AMERICA 
FIRST 


AMERICA  FIRST 


AMERICA  FIRST 

Patriotic  Readings 


BY 
JASPER  L.  McBRIEN,  A.  M. 

.FORMER  STATE   SUPERINTENDENT  OF  PUBLIC  INSTRUCTION   OF   NEBRASKA, 

AND    NOW    SCHOOL    E-XTENSION    SPECIALIST    FOR   THE    UNITED 

STATES  BUREAU  OF   EDUCATION,  WASHINGTON,  D.  C. 


AMERICAN  BOOK  COMPANY 

NEW  YORK  CINCINNATI  CHICAGO 


4\ 


COPYRIGHT,  1916 
by  JASPER  L.  MrBRIEN 


rights  reserved 


AMERICA    FIRST 
W.  P.    8 


FOREWORD 


AMERICA  FIRST  was  the  central  thought  in  President 
Wilson's  address  to  the  Daughters  of  the  American 
Revolution  on  the  twenty-fifth  anniversary  of  their 
organization — their  Silver  Jubilee — in  Washington, 
D.  C.,  October  11,  1915.  The  president  declared  in 
this  address  that  all  citizens  should  make  it  plain 
whether  their  sympathies  for  foreign  countries  come 
before  their  love  of  the  United  States,  or  whether  they 
are  for  America  first,  last,  and  all  the  time.  He  as 
serted,  also,  that  our  people  need  all  of  their  patriot 
ism  in  this  confusion  of  tongues  in  which  we  find  our 
selves  over  the  European  war. 

The  press  throughout  the  country  has  taken  up  the 
thought  of  the  President  and,  seconded  by  the  efforts 
of  the  Bureau  of  Education,  has  done  loyal  work  in 
making  "America  First"  our  national  slogan.  This  is 
all  good  so  far  as  it  goes — especially  among  the  adult 
population,  many  of  whom  must  be  educated,  if  edu 
cated  at  all,  on  the  run.  But  the  rising  generation, 
both  native-born  and  foreign,  to  get  the  full  meaning 
of  this  slogan  in  its  far-reaching  significance,  must 
have  time  for  study  and  reflection  along  patriotic 
lines.  There  must  be  the  right  material  on  which  the 
American  youth  may  settle  their  thoughts  for  a  defi 
nite  end  in  patriotism  if  our  country  is  to  have  a  new 
birth  of  freedom  and  if  "this  government  of  the  people, 
by  the  people,  and  for  the  people  is  not  to  perish  from 


6  FOREWORD 

the  earth."  The  prime  and  vital  service  of  amalgamat 
ing  into  one  homogeneous  body  the  children  alike  of 
those  who  are  born  here  and  of  those  who  come  here 
from  so  many  different  lands  must  be  rendered  this 
Republic  by  the  school  teachers  of  America. 

The  purpose  of  this  book  is  to  furnish  the  teachers 
and  pupils  of  our  country,  material  with  which  the 
idea  of  true  Americanism  may  be  developed  until 
"America  First"  shall  become  the  slogan  of  every  man, 
woman,  and  child  in  the  United  States. 


CONTENTS 

THE  CONTINENTAL  CONGRESS 
Jasper  L.  McBrien 

INTRODUCTION .      .  13 

TABLEAU — THE  SPIRIT  OF  SEVENTY-SIX        ...  19 

CAST  OF  CHARACTERS 20 

THE    CONTINENTAL    CONGRESS — A    DRAMATIZATION  21 

AMERICAN  PATRIOTISM 

WHAT  is  PATRIOTISM      .      .      .    Jasper  L.  McBrien  71 

AMERICA  FOR  ME Henry  van  Dyke  73 

AMERICA  FIRST Woodrow  Wilson  75 

THE  MEANING  OF  THE  FLAG    .'     .  Woodrow  Wilson  83 

MAKERS  OF  THE  FLAG   .      .      .      .Franklin  K.  Lane  87 

THE  FLAG  OF  THE  UNION  FOREVER  .    Fitzhugh  Lee  90 

FAREWELL  ADDRESS  ....     George  Washington  94 

WASHINGTON         ......    John  W.  Daniel  104 

ABRAHAM  LINCOLN Henry  Waiter  son  129 

SECOND  INAUGURAL  ADDRESS    .        Abraham  Lincoln  151 

ROBERT  E.  LEE                           E.  Benjamin  Andrews  154 

OUR  REUNITED  COUNTRY    ....    Clark  Howell  163 

THE  BLUE  AND  THE  GRAY        .     Henry  Cabot  Lodge  171 

A  REMINISCENCE  OF  GETTYSBURG  .  John  B.  Gordon  175 

THE  NEW  SOUTH Henry  W.  Grady  181 

THE  DUTY  AND  VALUE  OF  PATRIOTISM 

Archbishop  Ireland  195 

OUR  COUNTRY      .....      William  McKinley  202 

BEHOLD  THE  AMERICAN       .      .     T.  DeWitt  Talmage  206 

7 


8  CONTENTS 

THE  HOLLANDER  AS  AN  AMERICAN  Theodore  Roosevelt  212 

THE  ADOPTED  CITIZEN        .      .      .    Ulysses  S.  Grant  217 

OUR  NAVY Hampton  L.  Carson  220 

THE  PATRIOTISM  OF  PEACE      .       William  J.  Bryan  232 

A  PLEA  FOR  UNIVERSAL  PEACE   .    George  W.  Norris  238 

GETTYSBURG  ADDRESS     ....    Abraham  Lincoln  255 

NEUTRALITY  PROCLAMATION      .      .     Woodrow  Wilson  256 


POETRY  OF  PATRIOTISM 

CONCORD  HYMN     ....      Ralph  Waldo  Emerson  261 

WARREN'S  ADDRESS  .      .      .      .      .       John  Pierpont  262 

PATRIOTISM  •  .      .      .  .      .      .    Sir  Walter  Scott  263 

THE  STAR-SPANGLED  BANNER         Francis  Scott  Key  263 

MY  COUNTRY Samuel  F.  Smith  265 

THE  AMERICAN  FLAG      .      .     Joseph  Rodman  Drake  266 

SONG  OF  MARION'S  MEN     .    William  Cullen  Bryant  267 

THE  OLD  CONTINENTALS    Guy  Humphreys  McMaster  269 

THE  SWORD  OF  BUNKER  HILL       Wm.  Ross  Wallace  271 

LIBERTY  TREE      ......       Thomas  Paine  272 

THE  RISING  IN  1776       .      .  Thomas  Buchanan  Read  274 

AMERICA Bayard  Taylor  278 

THE  BLUE  AND  THE  GRAY  .      .      .  Francis  M.  Finch  279 

ABRAHAM  LINCOLN    .      .      .      .James  Russell  Lowell  281 

THE  FLAG  GOES  BY       .      .  Henry  Holcomb  Bennett  284 

THE  SHIP  OF  STATE  .      Henry  Wadsworth  Longfellow  285 

THE  NAME  OF  OLD  GLORY      James  Whitcomb  Riley  286 


ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 

Acknowledgments  for  permission  to  use  copyrighted 
and  other  valuable  material  in  this  volume  are  hereby 
tendered  to  authors  and  publishers  as  follows: 

To  President  Woodrow  Wilson  for  his  three  addresses 
"America  First,"  "The  Meaning  of  the  Flag,"  and 
'  *  Neutrality  Proclamation . ' ' 

To  Secretary  Franklin  K.  Lane  for  his  speech  on 
"The  Makers  of  the  Flag." 

To  William  Jennings  Bryan  and  his  publishers, 
Funk  and  Wagnalls  Company,  New  York  and  Lon 
don,  for  extracts  from  his  address  on  "The  Patriotism 
of  Peace." 

To  Archbishop  Ireland  for  extracts  from  his  address 
on  "The  Duty  and  Value  of  Patriotism." 

To  George  L.  Schuman  and  Company,  publishers 
of  Modern  Eloquence,  Chicago,  for  the  following  ex 
tracts  and  addresses:  "Our  Country,"  by  William 
McKinley;  "Our  Reunited  Country,"  by  Clark 
Howell;  '"The  Blue  and  the  Gray,"  by  Henry  Cabot 
Lodge;  "A  Reminiscence  of  Gettysburg,"  by  John 
B.  Gordon;  "The  New  South,"  by  Henry  W.  Grady; 
and  "The  Hollander  as  an  American,"  by  Theodore 
Roosevelt. 

To  A.  C.  Butters  for  the  address  on  "Washington," 
by  John  W.  Daniel,  from  Modern  Eloquence  published 
by  George  L.  Schuman  and  Company. 


10  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 

To  Henry  Watterson,  Louisville,  Kentucky,  for  the 
extracts  from  his  lecture  on  Abraham  Lincoln. 

To  E.  Benjamin  Andrews  and  to  his  publishers, 
Fords,  Howard  and  Hulbert,  for  the  extracts  from  his 
lecture  on  Robert  E.  Lee. 

To  J.  B.  Lippincott  Company,  Philadelphia,  for 
the  poem  by  Thomas  Buchanan  Read,  "The  Rising 
in  1776." 

To  Charles  Scribner's  Sons,  New  York,  for  the 
poem  by  Henry  van  Dyke,  "America  for  Me,"  and 
also  for  the  extract  from  the  poem  "Wanted,"  by 
J.  G.  Holland. 

To  The  Bobbs-Merrill  Company,  Indianapolis,  for 
the  poem  by  James  Whitcomb  Riley,  "The  Name  of 
Old  Glory." 

To  Henry  Holcomb  Bennett  for  his  poem  entitled, 
"The  Flag  Goes  By." 

To  Christopher  Sower  Company,  Philadelphia,  for 
the  poem  by  Edward  Brooks,  entitled  "Be  a  Woman." 

The  selections  from  the  poems  of  Ralph  Waldo 
Emerson,  Henry  Wadsworth  Longfellow,  James  Rus 
sell  Lowell,  and  Bayard  Taylor  are  used  by  permission 
of  and  special  arrangement  with  Houghton  Mifflin 
Company,  the  authorized  publishers  of  the  works  of 
those  authors. 

The  thanks  of  the  author  are  also  extended  to 
Nelson  Warner,  Katherine  M.  Cook,  Mrs.  L.  R.  Cald- 
well,  Belvia  Cuzzort,  W.  R.  Hood,  and  Dr.  Stephen  B. 
Weeks  of  the  Bureau  of  Education,  for  valuable  assist 
ance  in  the  compilation  of  this  work. 


THECONTINENTAL  CONGRESS 

A  DRAMATIZATION 


(11) 


SIGNING   THE   DECLARATION 


INTRODUCTION 

THIS  dramatization  of  the  Continental  Congress 
portrays  the  spirit  of  the  times  during  the  period  of 
the  American  Revolution.  It  deals  principally  with 
the  debates  for  and  against  the  Declaration  of  Inde 
pendence;  it  is  a  summary  of  the  grievances,  struggles, 
sacrifices,  and  victories  of  the  colonies  from  the  enact 
ment  of  the  obnoxious  Stamp  Act  by  the  British  Parlia 
ment  to  the  resignation  of  George  Washington  as  corn- 
man  der-in-chief  of  the  American  army. 

In  the  construction  of  a  drama  covering  such  a  heroic 
period  and  relating  to  events  so  momentous,  all  of 
which  must  pass  in  review  before  us  within  an  hour 
and  a  half's  time,  it  is  necessary  to  exercise  a  certain 
dramatic  license.  The  historical  literalist,  like  the 
scriptural  literalist,  makes  the  letter  kill  the  spirit  of 
the  truth.  After  all,  it  is  not  the  dry  facts,  dates,  and 
mechanics  of  history  that  are  of  greatest  importance; 
it  is  the  fundamental  principles,  causes,  and  effects 
underlying  the  events  as  well  as  the  spirit  of  the  times, 
that  are  of  first  consideration. 

Any  modification  of  historical  fact  in  this  dramatiza 
tion  has  been  made  only  to  give  a  fuller  meaning  to  the 
great  facts  of  history  touched  upon  therein.  It  is  the 
period  of  the  American  Revolution  that  is  to  be  por 
trayed,  as  already  stated — not  alone  those  memorable 
days  of  June  and  July,  1776,  during  which  the  debates 
on  the  Declaration  of  Independence  took  place.  For 
example,  Patrick  Henry  was  a  member  of  the  First 

13 


14  THE   CONTINENTAL   CONGRESS 

and  the  Second  Continental  Congress,  though  not  a 
member  at  the  time  the  Declaration  of  Independence 
was  debated,  Washington  was  a  member  of  the  First 
Continental  Congress,  but  Jefferson  was  not.  Con 
gress  was  a  changing  body  in  its  membership  then  as 
is  our  Congress  to-day. 

Jefferson  declares  that  Patrick  Henry  was  the  man 
who  put  the  ball  of  the  American  Revolution  in  motion. 
Not  to  give  Henry  a  place  in  this  dramatization  would 
be  like  the  play  of  "Hamlet"  with  Hamlet  left  out. 

It  must  be  remembered  that  no  record  was  made  of 
the  debates  in  the  Continental  Congress  as  is  done  ver 
batim  by  expert  reporters  in  Congress  to-day  and  pub 
lished  in  the  Congressional  Record.  Therefore,  the 
speeches  herein  have  been  adapted  from  such  sources 
as  Paine's  "  Separation  of  Britain  and  America,"  Web 
ster's  "Supposed  Speech  of  John  Adams,"  "Wirt's 
Supposed  Speech  of  Patrick  Henry,"  Alexander  H. 
Stephens's  "  Corner  Stone  Speech,"  Webster's  "  Sup 
posed  Speech  of  Opposition  to  Independence,"  and 
Sumner's  "True  Grandeur  of  Nations."  The  dialogue 
between  Jefferson  and  Adams  is  taken  from  a  letter  of 
John  Adams  to  Timothy  Pickering,  dated  August  6, 
1822.  The  speeches  of  Stephens  and  Sumner  are  para 
phrased  to  suit  the  times  to  which  they  are  here  applied. 

Great  care  has  been  exercised  to  place  each  of  the 
leading  characters  in  these  debates  on  the  side  in  which 
he  at  that  time  conscientiously  believed.  In  the  roll  call 
in  this  drama  on  the  vote  for  independence,  the  history 
of  each  colony  has  been  thoroughly  studied  so  as  to 
bring  out  the  changed  attitude  of  the  people  of  the 


INTRODUCTION  15 

various  colonies  toward  independence,  as  well  as  of 
certain  members  of  the  Continental  Congress  on  this 
question. 

The  scenes  of  Washington  and  his  army  just  before 
the  battle  of  Long  Island,  the  tableau  of  The  Spirit 
of  '76,  and  Washington's  resignation  as  commander- 
in-chief  of  the  army,  are  introduced  not  alone  for  their 
psychological  effect  on  the  dramatization  proper,  but 
for  their  own  worth  in  teaching  patriotism. 

With  twenty-nine  leading  characters  the  dramatiza 
tion  can  be  well  staged.  But  if  fifty-five  characters  are 
available — the  number  who  signed  the  Declaration, 
and  if  there  is  room  for  so  many,  so  much  the  better, 
except  as  the  number  of  performers  is  increased  there 
will  be  an  additional  expense  for  costumes.1  It  may  be 
given  as  a  reading  lesson  without  costumes;  it  may  be 
given  so  as  a  drama;  but  it  is  a  greater  success  given 
in  costumes. 

Those  who  take  part  in  this  dramatization  should  be 
costumed  as  nearly  like  the  characters  they  represent 
as  possible.  As  a  rule,  wigs  can  be  rented  for  this  pur 
pose  at  a  reasonable  cost,  and  it  will  not  be  difficult  to 
dress  in  the  style  of  the  Revolutionary  period — buckle 
shoes,  silk  stockings,  knee  pants,  ruffled  shirt,  and  the 
conventional  coat  of  the  time. 

The  same  freedom  must  be  permitted  and  exercised 
in  carrying  out  this  dramatization,  that  marked  the 
actors  in  the  Continental  Congress  itself  in  its  stormy 

*In  small  schools  where  there  are  not  enough  large  boys  to  represent  all 
the  characters,  those  who  represent  members  of  the  Continental  Congress 
can  become  members  of  Washington's  army,  etc.,  for  the  other  scenes. 


In  their  ragged  regimentals 
Stood  the  old  Continentals, 

Yielding  not, 

When  the  grenadiers  were  Iunging9 
And  like  hail  fell  the  plunging 

Cannon  shot; 

When  the  files 

Of  the  isles, 

From  the  smoky   night  encampment,   bore  the  banner 
of  the  rampant 

Unicorn; 

And  grummer,   grummer,   grummer,   rolled  the   roll   of 
the  drummer 

Through  the  mo  nil 


(18) 


TABLEAU -THE  SPIRIT  OF  SEVENTY-SIX  (19) 


;  CAST 

SPEAKERS 
FOR  THE  DECLARATION  AGAINST  THE  DECLARATION 

John  Hancock,  President  Edward  Rutledge 

Richard  Henry  Lee  John  Dickinson 

John  Adams  George  Walton 

Roger  Sherman  Robert  Morris 

Benjamin  Franklin 
Samuel  Adams 
Joseph  Hewes 
Patrick  Henry 
Thomas  Jefferson 

Charles  Thomson,  Secretary 

OTHER  MEMBERS  OF  THE  CONGRESS 

Josiah  Bartlett  Oliver  Wolcott 

Stephen  Hopkins  Elbridge  Gerry 

William  Floyd  William  Hooper 
Charles  Carroll  of  Carrollton       Benjamin  Rush 

Samuel  Chase  Richard  Stockton 

Benjamin  Harrison  Thomas  McKean 

Lyman  Hall  Caesar  Rodney 

ADDITIONAL  CHARACTERS 
General    Washington  and  his  Army 

Fifer 

Leading  the  Army 


20 


THE  CONTINENTAL  CONGRESS 

ACT  I. 

SCENE  I.- — Congress  assembled;    John  Hancock  in  the 
chair  as  president;  his  keynote  speech. 

JOHN  HANCOCK.1  Gentlemen  of  the  Continental 
Congress: — I  thank  you  for  the  signal  honor  you  have 
conferred  on  me  in  making  me  your  presiding  officer. 
I  am  glad  to  see  so  many  Colonies  represented  in  this 
Congress.  Let  us  show  the  nations  of  the  old  world 
what  the  people  of  the  new  world  will  do  when  left  to 
themselves,  to  their  own  unbiased  good  sense,  and  to 
their  own  true  interests.  On  us  depend  the  destinies 
of  our  country — the  fate  of  three  millions  of  people,  and 
of  the  countless  millions  of  our  posterity.  Matchless 
is  our  opportunity — matchless  also  is  our  responsibility ! 
May  the  God  of  nations  guide  us  in  our  deliberations 
and  in  our  actions. 

Everything  that  is  right  or  natural  pleads  for  sepa 
ration.  The  blood  of  the  slain,  the  weeping  voice  of 
Nature  cries, "  'Tis  time  to  part."  Even  the  distance  at 
which  the  Almighty  hath  placed  England  and  America, 
is  a  strong  and  natural  proof  that  the  authority  of  the 
one  over  the  other  was  never  the  design  of  Heaven.  The 
time,  likewise,  at  which  the  continent  was  discovered, 

*Thi3  speech  is  adapted  from  Paine's  "Separation  of  Britain  and  America." 

21 

AMERICA    FIKST — 2. 


22  THE    CONTINENTAL    CONGRESS 

adds  weight  to  the  argument,  and  the  manner  in  which 
it  was  peopled,  increases  the  force  of  it.  The  Reforma 
tion  was  preceded  by  the  discovery  of  America,  as  if  the 
Almighty  graciously  meant  to  open  a  sanctuary  to  the 
persecuted  in  future  years,  when  home  should  afford 
neither  friendship  nor  safety. 

The  authority  of  Great  Britain  over  this  continent  is 
a  form  of  government  which  sooner  or  later  must  have 
an  end:  and  a  serious  mind  can  draw  no  true  pleasure 
by  looking  forward,  under  the  painful  and  positive  con 
viction  that  what  he  calls  "the  present  constitution" 
is  merely  temporary.  As  parents,  we  can  have  no  joy, 
knowing  that  this  government  is  not  sufficiently  lasting 
to  insure  anything  which  we  may  bequeath  to  posterity; 
and  by  a  plain  method  of  argument,  as  we  are  running 
the  next  generation  into  debt,  we  ought  to  do  the  work 
of  it,  otherwise  we  use  them  meanly  and  pitifully.  In 
order  to  discover  the  line  of  our  duty  rightly,  we  should 
take  our  children  by  the  hand,  and  fix  our  station  a  few 
years  farther  into  life;  that  eminence  will  present  a 
prospect  which  a  few  present  fears  and  prejudices  con 
ceal  from  our  sight. 

Though  I  would  carefully  avoid  giving  unnecessary 
offense,  yet  I  am  inclined  to  believe  that  all  those  who 
espouse  the  doctrine  of  reconciliation  may  be  included 
within  the  following  descriptions :  Interested  men,  who 
are  not  to  be  trusted;  weak  men,  who  cannot  see;  prej 
udiced  men,  who  will  not  see;  and  a  certain  set  of 
moderate  men,  who  think  better  of  the  European  world 
than  it  deserves:  and  this  last  class,  by  an  ill-judged 
deliberation,  will  be  the  cause  of  more  calamities  to 
this  continent  than  all  the  other  three. 


A    DRAMATIZATION  23 

It  is  the  good  fortune  of  many  to  live  distant  from 
the  scene  of  sorrow;  the  evil  is  not  sufficiently  brought 
to  their  doors  to  make  them  feel  the  precariousness  with 
which  all  American  property  is  possessed.  But  let  our 
imaginations  transport  us  a  few  moments  to  Boston; 
that  seat  of  wretchedness  will  teach  us  wisdom,  and  in 
struct  us  forever  to  renounce  a  power  in  whom  we  can 
have  no  trust.  The  inhabitants  of  that  unfortunate 
city,  who  but  a  few  months  ago  were  in  ease  and  afflu 
ence,  have  no  other  alternative  than  to  stay  and  starve, 
or  turn  out  to  beg.  Endangered  by  the  fire  of  their 
friends  if  they  continue  within  the  city,  and  plundered 
by  the  soldiery  if  they  leave  it.  In  their  present  situa 
tion  they  are  prisoners  without  hope  of  redemption, 
and  in  a  general  attack  for  their  relief  they  would  be 
exposed  to  the  fury  of  both  armies. 

Men  of  passive  tempers  look  somewhat  lightly  over 
the  offenses  of  Britain,  and,  still  hoping  for  the  best, 
are  apt  to  call  out,  "Come,  come,  we  shall  be  friends 
again  for  all  this."  But  examine  the  passions  and  feel 
ings  of  mankind,  bring  the  doctrine  of  reconciliation  to 
the  touchstone  of  nature,  and  then  tell  me  whether  you 
can  hereafter  love,  honor,  and  faithfully  serve  the  power 
that  hath  carried  fire  and  sword  into  your  land?  If 
you  cannot  do  all  these,  then  are  you  deceiving  your 
selves,  and  by  your  delay  bringing  ruin  upon  your  pos 
terity.  Your  future  connection  with  Britain,  whom 
you  can  neither  love  nor  honor,  will  be  forced  and  un 
natural,  and  being  formed  only  on  the  plan  of  present 
convenience,  will  in  a  little  time  fall  into  a  relapse  more 
wretched  than  the  first.  But  if  you  say  you  can  still 


$4  THE    CONTINENTAL    CONGRESS 

pass  the  violations  over,  then  I  ask,  hath  your  house 
been  burnt?  Hath  your  property  been  destroyed  before 
your  face?  Are  your  wife  and  children  destitute  of  a  bed 
to  lie  on,  or  bread  to  live  on?  Have  you  lost  a  parent 
or  a  child  by  their  hands,  and  yourself  the  ruined  and 
wretched  survivor?  If  you  have  not,  then  are  you  not 
a  judge  of  those  who  have.  But  if  you  have,  and  can 
still  shake  hands  with  the  murderers,  then  are  you  un 
worthy  the  name  of  husband,  father,  friend  or  lover, 
and,  whatever  may  be  your  rank  or  title  in  life,  you 
have  the  heart  of  a  coward  and  the  spirit  of  a  sycophant. 

Gentlemen  of  the  First  American  Congress,  in  the 
name  of  Equality,  Fraternity  and  Liberty,  I  welcome 
you  to  this  council.  What  is  your  pleasure,  gentlemen? 

RICHARD  HENRY  LEE.  Mr.  President: — I  wish  to 
move  the  adoption  of  the  following  resolution:  "Re 
solved,  that  these  united  colonies  are,  and  of  right 
ought  to  be  free  and  independent  states;  that  they  are 
absolved  from  all  allegiance  to  the  British  crown,  and 
that  all  political  connection  between  them  and  the  state 
of  Great  Britain  is,  and  ought  to  be,  totally  dissolved." 

JOHN  ADAMS.    Mr.  President: — I  second  the  motion. 

JOHN  HANCOCK.  Gentlemen  of  the  Continental 
Congress,  you  have  heard  the  motion  of  Mr.  Richard 
Henry  Lee,  of  Virginia,  for  immediate  and  absolute 
independence.  Are  there  any  remarks? 

RICHARD  HENRY  LEE.     Mr.  President  and  Gentle- 


A    DRAMATIZATION  25 

men  of  the  Continental  Congress: — Why  do  we  delay? 
Why  still  deliberate?  Let  this  happy  day  give  birth  to 
an  American  republic.  Let  her  arise,  not  to  devastate 
and  to  conquer,  but  to  reestablish  the  reign  of  peace  and 
law.  The  eyes  of  Europe  are  fixed  upon  us.  She  de 
mands  of  us  a  living  example  of  freedom  that  may  ex 
hibit  a  contrast  in  the  felicity  of  the  citizen  to  the  ever 
increasing  tyranny  which  devastates  her  polluted 
shores.  She  invites  us  to  prepare  an  asylum  where  the 
unhappy  may  find  solace  and  the  persecuted  repose. 
She  entreats  us  to  cultivate  a  propitious  soil  where  that 
generous  plant  of  liberty,  which  first  sprang  and  grew  in 
England,  but  is  now  withered  by  the  blasts  of  tyranny 
may  revive  and  flourish,  sheltering  under  its  salubrious 
shade  all  the  unfortunate  of  the  human  race.  If  we  are 
not  this  day  wanting  in  our  duty  to  our  country,  the 
names  of  the  American  legislators  of  1776  will  be  placed 
by  posterity  at  the  side  of  Theseus,  of  Lycurgus,  of 
Romulus,  of  Numa,  of  the  three  Williams  of  Nassau 
and  of  all  those  whose  memory  has  been  and  forever 
will  be,  dear  to  virtuous  men  and  good  citizens.1 

(At  the  close  of  Mr.  Lee's  brief  speech  there  is  a  clamor 
for  recognition.  John  Adams  is  recognized.) 

JOHN  ADAMS.  Mr.  President: — I  move  that  a  com 
mittee  of  five  be  selected  by  ballot  to  draft  a  Decla 
ration  representing  the  views  of  these  united  colonies. 

BENJAMIN  FRANKLIN.  Mr.  President: — I  second 
the  motion. 

1  Adapted  from  Wirt's  supposed  speech  of  Lee. 


26  THE    CONTINENTAL    CONGRESS 

JOHN  HANCOCK.  Gentlemen  of  the  Continental 
Congress: — The  motion  has  been  made  and  seconded 
that  a  committee  of  five  be  selected  by  ballot  to  draft 
a  proper  Declaration  representing  the  views  of  these 
united  colonies.  You  have  heard  the  motion,  are  there 
any  remarks  ?  (Calls  for  the  question.) 

As  many  as  favor  this  motion  make  it  known  by 
saying  "aye"  (ayes  respond)',  contrary,  "no"  (noes 
respond).  The  ayes  seem  to  have  it,  the  ayes  have  it, 
and  the  motion  is  carried. 

Gentlemen  of  the  Continental  Congress,  I  shall  ap 
point  Benjamin  Rush  of  Pennsylvania,  Samuel  Chase 
of  Maryland,  and  Edward  Rutledge  of  South  Carolina 
as  tellers  for  this  election  and  they  will  wait  upon  you 
for  your  ballots  for  the  committee.  Please  write  the 
names  of  the  five  men  whom  you  wish  to  serve  on  this 
committee,  on  your  ballot  and  deposit  the  same  in  the 
hat  when  passed. 

(Ballots  are  gathered  by  the  tellers  who  report 
the  result  to  the  president  of  the  Congress.) 

Gentlemen  of  the  Continental  Congress: — By  your 
ballots  you  have  selected  the  following  persons  as  the 
committee  of  five  to  draft  the  Declaration  as  already 
ordered — Thomas  Jefferson  of  Virginia,  John  Adams 
of  Massachusetts,  Benjamin  Franklin  of  Pennsylvania, 
Roger  Sherman  of  Connecticut,  and  Robert  R.  Living 
ston  of  New  York.  Gentlemen,  what  is  your  further 
pleasure? 

SAMUEL  ADAMS.  Mr.  President: — I  move  that  the 
Congress  do  now  take  a  recess  until  to-morrow  morning 


A     DRAMATIZATION  27 

at  10  o'clock  to  give  the  committee  just  appointed 
time  in  which  to  prepare  the  Declaration  ordered. 

JOSEPH  HEWES.  Mr.  President: — I  second  the 
motion  which  Mr.  Adams  has  offered. 

JOHN  HANCOCK.  Gentlemen  of  the  Congress: — It 
has  been  moved  and  seconded  that  this  Congress  take 
a  recess  until  to-morrow  morning  at  10  o'clock  in  order 
to  give  the  committee  just  appointed  time  in  which  to 
prepare  a  proper  Declaration.  You  have  heard  the 
motion,  are  there  any  remarks  ?  (Calls  for  question.) 

As  many  as  favor  the  motion  make  it  known  by  say 
ing  "  aye  "  (ayes  respond) ;  contrary,  "  no  "  (noes  re 
spond).  The  ayes  seem  to  have  it,  the  ayes  have  it, 
and  this  Congress  will  take  a  recess  until  to-morrow 
morning  at  10  o'clock. 

CURTAIN 


28  THE    CONTINENTAL    CONGRESS 

ACT  II, 

SCENE  I. — Meeting  of  the  Committee  of  Five.    Livingston 
absent. 

BENJAMIN  FRANKLIN.  Gentlemen  of  the  Com 
mittee,  I  move  that  Thomas  Jefferson  and  John  Adams 
be  appointed  as  a  sub-committee  of  this  Committee  of 
Five  to  draft  the  Declaration  ordered  by  the  Conti 
nental  Congress. 

ROGER  SHERMAN.    I  second  the  motion. 

BENJAMIN  FRANKLIN.  Gentlemen,  you  have  heard 
the  motion.  As  many  as  favor  the  same  make  it  known 
by  saying  "aye." 

(Mr.  Jefferson  and  Mr.  Adams  are  silent  while  Mr. 
Sherman  and  Mr.  Franklin  vote  aye.) 

The  ayes  seem  to  have  it,  the  ayes  have  it,  and  Mr. 
Jefferson  and  Mr.  Adams  are  elected. 

JOHN  ADAMS.  Gentlemen,  it  seems  to  me  you  have 
taken  snap  judgment  on  Mr.  Jefferson  and  myself. 

THOMAS  JEFFERSON.    Yes,  gentlemen,  you  have. 

BENJAMIN  FRANKLIN.  The  committee  has  so  or 
dered  and  as  Congress  itself  gave  Mr.  Jefferson  the 
highest  number  of  votes  and  Mr.  Adams  the  next 


A     DRAMATIZATION  29 

highest  number  in  the  selection  of  this  committee,  I 
am  sure  that  Congress  will  be  highly  pleased  at  our 
having  selected  you  for  this  great  work.  We  also  feel 
that  we  should  congratulate  ourselves  upon  the  choice 
we  have  made. 

JOHN  ADAMS.  Thank  you,  gentlemen,  for  the  com 
pliment. 

THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  I  join  Mr.  Adams  in  thanking 
you,  gentlemen,  for  the  confidence  you  have  in  us. 

ROGER  SHERMAN.  Gentlemen  of  the  committee,  I 
move  that  we  take  a  recess  until  to-night  so  as  to  give 
the  sub-committee  time  to  prepare  the  Declaration. 

MR.  ADAMS.    I  second  the  motion. 

MR.  FRANKLIN.  As  many  as  favor  the  motion  make 
it  known  by  saying  "aye"  (ayes  respond).  The  ayes 
seem  to  have  it,  the  ayes  have  it,  and  the  committee 
will  take  a  recess  until  eight  o'clock  tonight. 

(Mr.  Franklin  and  Mr.  Sherman  leave  Mr.  Adams 
and  Mr.  Jefferson  to  themselves  to  deliberate  over 
the  Declaration.') 

MR.  JEFFERSON.  Mr.  Adams,  I  suggest  that  you 
make  the  draft  of  this  Declaration. 

MR.  ADAMS.    I  will  not! 


30  THE    CONTINENTAL    CONGRESS 

MR.  JEFFERSON.    JYou  should  do  it» 
MR.  ADAMS.     Oh,  no! 

MR.  JEFFERSON.  Why  will  you  not?  You  ought 
to  do  it. 

MR.  ADAMS.    I  will  not! 

MR.  JEFFERSON.    Why? 

MR.  ADAMS.    Reasons  enough. 

MR.  JEFFERSON.    What  can  be  your  reasons? 

MR.  ADAMS.  Reason  first,  you  are  a  Virginian  and 
a  Virginian  ought  to  appear  at  the  head  of  this  business. 
Reason  second,  I  am  obnoxious,  suspected,  and  un 
popular.  You  are  very  much  otherwise.  Reason 
third,  you  can  write  ten  times  better  than  I  can. 

MR.  JEFFERSON.  Well,  if  you  are  decided,  I  will  do 
the  best  I  can. 

MR.  ADAMS.  Very  well,  when  you  have  drawn  it 
up  we  will  have  a  meeting. 

(Exeunt  Mr.  Adams  and  Mr.  Jefferson.) 


lThis  dialogue  between  Adams  and  Jefferson  is  taken  from  Adams's  letter 
to  Timothy  Pickering. 


A    DRAMATIZATION  31 

SCENE  II. — Washington9 s  Address  to  his  Army.    Wash 
ington  and  his  army1  in  camp  on  Long  Island, 

The  time  is  now  near  at  hand,  which  must  probably 
determine  whether  Americans  are  to  be  freemen  or 
slaves,  whether  their  houses  and  farms  are  to  be  pil 
laged  and  destroyed,  and  themselves  to  be  consigned 
to  a  state  of  wretchedness  from  which  no  human  efforts 
will  deliver  them.  The  fate  of  unborn  millions  will  now 
depend,  under  God,  on  the  courage  and  the  conduct 
of  this  army.  Our  cruel  and  unrelenting  enemy  leaves 
us  only  the  choice  of  a  brave  resistance  or  the  most 
abject  submission.  We  have,  therefore,  to  resolve  to 
conquer  or  to  die. 

Our  own,  our  country's  honor,  calls  upon  us  for  a 
vigorous  and  manly  exertion.  If  we  now  shamefully 
fail,  we  shall  become  infamous  to  the  whole  world. 
The  eyes  of  all  our  countrymen  are  now  upon  us,  and 
we  shall  have  their  blessings  and  praises  if  happily  we 
are  the  instruments  of  saving  them  from  the  tyranny 
meditated  against  them.  Let  us,  therefore,  animate 
and  encourage  each  other,  and  show  the  whole  world 
that  a  freeman  contending  for  liberty  on  his  own 
ground  is  superior  to  any  slavish  mercenary  on  earth. 


'If  this  is  properly  staged  it  will  be  very  effective.  National  Guard 
members  will  be  glad  to  take  part  as  members  of  Washington's  army,  with 
their  tents  and  uniforms  and  arms,  if  there  are  no  school  cadets  to  play  this 
part.  The  bugler  sounds  the  call  to  arms.  The  soldiers  fall  into  line  ready  /or 
the  fight.  Just  before  marching  orders  are  given,  Washington  deliver? 
the  following  address,  after  which  the  curtain  goes  down  on  this  scene  anu 
the  sound  of  battle  is  heard  in  the  distance. 


32  THE    CONTINENTAL    CONGRESS 

Liberty,  property,  life,  and  honor  are  all  at  stake. 
Upon  your  courage  and  conduct  rest  the  hopes  of  our 
bleeding  and  insulted  country.  Our  wives,  children, 
and  parents  expect  safety  from  us  only;  and  they  have 
every  reason  to  believe  that  Heaven  will  crown  with 
success  so  just  a  cause. 

The  enemy  will  endeavor  to  intimidate  by  show  and 
appearance;  but  remember  that  they  have  been  re 
pulsed  on  various  occasions  by  a  few  brave  Americans. 
Their  cause  is  bad — their  men  are  conscious  of  it.  If 
they  are  opposed  with  firmness  and  coolness  on  their 
first  onset,  with  our  advantage  of  works  and  knowledge 
of  the  ground,  the  victory  is  most  assuredly  ours. 

SCENE  III.— TABLEAU— "The  Spirit  of  '76." 

As  soon  as  the  sound  of  battle  has  died  away  following  the  departure  of 
Washington  and  his  army,  put  on  the  tableau  of  "The  Spirit  of  76."  The 
fifer,  the  drummer,  and  the  little  boy  should  be  good  musicians  playing 
patriotic  music  of  the  Revolution.  Their  wounded  and  ragged  comrades 
are  seen  in  the  background. 

SCENE  IV. — Mr.  Jefferson  seated  at  his  desk  and  put 
ting  on  the  finishing  touches  to  his  original  draft 
of  the  Declaration  of  Independence.  Enter  Mr.  Adams, 

MR.  ADAMS.    Good  evening,  Mr.  Jefferson. 
MR.  JEFFERSON.    Good  evening,  Mr.  Adams. 

MR.  ADAMS.  Well,  have  you  the  Declaration 
finished? 


A    DRAMATIZATION  33 

MR.  JEFFERSON.  Mr.  Adams,  I  have  done  the  best 
I  could  but  I  am  not  very  well  satisfied  with  what  I 
have  written.  I  wish  you  would  look  it  over  and 
make  such  corrections  and  criticisms  as  your  judg 
ment  deems  proper. 

MR.  ADAMS  (studying  the  Declaration).  Mr.  Jef 
ferson,  I  am  delighted  with  your  production.  Your 
statements  relative  to  the  inalienable  rights  of  men 
are  unanswerable  and  to  secure  these  rights,  govern 
ments  must  be  instituted  among  men,  deriving  their 
just  powers  from  the  consent  of  the  governed.  This  para 
graph  concerning  negro  slavery  meets  with  my  ap 
proval  but  I  fear  it  will  not  meet  with  the  approval  of 
some  of  the  Southern  delegates.  I  congratulate  you, 
Mr.  Jefferson,  on  what  you  have  done.  This  docu 
ment  will  make  you  immortal. 

MR.  JEFFERSON.  Thank  you,  Mr.  Adams,  I  fear  you 
are  too  extravagant  in  your  praise  of  my  work. 

(Enter  Mr.  Franklin  and  Mr.  Sherman.) 

MR.  FRANKLIN.  Well,  gentlemen,  have  you  com 
pleted  the  draft  for  the  Declaration? 

MR.  ADAMS.  Mr.  Jefferson  has  finished  it.  It  is  all 
his  work.  I  have  reviewed  the  paper  very  hurriedly 
but  in  my  opinion  it  is  one  of  the  greatest  documents 
ever  written  by  man.  Look  it  over,  gentlemen,  and  let 
Us  hear  your  opinion  of  it. 


34  THE  CONTINENTAL  CONGRESS 

MR.  FRANKLIN  (studying  the  Declaration).  Mr. 
Jefferson,  I  congratulate  you,  sir.  Your  declaration 
on  the  inalienable  rights  of  men  is  well  stated.  I  agree 
with  you  that  governments  derive  their  just  powers 
from  the  consent  of  the  governed.  I  like  that  paragraph 
on  slavery  but  I  believe  that  some  of  the  Southern 
delegates  will  oppose  it.  This  is  a  paper  of  which  you 
should  be  proud,  Mr.  Jefferson.  I  congratulate  you, 
sir.  Here,  Mr.  Sherman,  let  us  have  your  views  on 
this  Declaration, 

MR.  SHERMAN  (studying  the  Declaration).  You  have 
covered  all  our  grievances  in  the  twenty-seven  dis 
tinct  charges  you  have  made  against  the  present  king 
of  Great  Britain.  We  can  well  afford  to  submit  these 
facts  to  a  candid  world.  That  paragraph  on  slavery, 
Mr.  Jefferson,  meets  with  my  approval  heartily,  but 
I  fear  some  of  the  Southern  delegates  will  oppose  it 
strongly.  We  can  certainly  appeal  to  the  Supreme 
Judge  of  the  world  for  the  rectitude  of  our  intentions. 
I  believe  with  you  that  divine  Providence  will  sup 
port  us  in  making  this  Declaration  good.  Therefore, 
I  am  willing  to  stand  with  you  in  pledging  our  lives, 
our  fortunes,  and  our  sacred  honor  to  this  end.  I  do 
not  see  how  I  could  make  any  suggestions  that  would 
improve  it.  Mr.  Jefferson,  I  congratulate  you  on  the 
great  work  you  have  done  in  this  paper  for  our  country 
and  for  humanity. 

i  -  ' 

MR.  JEFFERSON.  Gentlemen,  I  thank  you  all  most 
heartily  and  sincerely  for  the  compliments  you  have 


A    DRAMATIZATION  35 

paid  me  on  this  paper,  but  I  am  no  orator  myself,  es 
pecially  for  such  an  occasion  as  this;  therefore,  I 
should  like  to  have  Mr.  Adams  report  this  Declaration 
to  the  Continental  Congress,  move  its  adoption  for 
me,  and  lead  in  the  debates  in  favor  of  it. 

MR.  FRANKLIN.  Gentlemen: — I  move  that  Mr. 
Adams  be  requested  to  report  this  Declaration  to  the 
Congress  as  desired  by  Mr.  Jefferson. 

MR.  SHERMAN.    I  second  the  motion. 

MR.  FRANKLIN.  Gentlemen,  you  have  heard  the 
motion.  As  many  as  favor  the  same  make  it  known  by 
saying  "aye."  (Response  of  ayes;  Mr.  Adams  is  silent.) 
The  ayes  seem  to  have  it,  the  ayes  have  it,  and  the 
motion  is  carried  for  Mr.  Adams  to  so  report  this  Decla 
ration.  The  committee  is  adjourned. 

CURTAIN 


36  THE    CONTINENTAL    CONGRESS 

ACT  HI. 

SCENE  I. — The  Continental  Congress  again  in  session. 

MR.  HANCOCK.  (Looking  at  his  watch,  as  he  calls 
the  Congress  to  order.)  Gentlemen  of  the  Continental 
Congress: — The  time  has  come  to  which  we  adjourned 
yesterday  in  order  to  give  the  Committee  of  Five,  ap 
pointed  to  draft  the  Declaration,  due  time  to  prepare 
the  same.  Are  the  gentlemen  of  the  Committee  present 
and  ready  to  report? 

MR.  ADAMS.  Mr.  President  and  Gentlemen  of  the 
Continental  Congress: — At  the  request  of  Mr.  Jef 
ferson  and  the  other  members  of  the  Committee,  I  beg 
leave  to  submit  the  following  Declaration  for  your 
consideration  after  it  has  been  read  by  the  secretary 
of  this  Congress.  Permit  me  to  say  here,  however, 
that  the  credit  for  the  authorship  of  this  paper  belongs 
entirely  to  Mr.  Jefferson.  It  is  his  work,  which  the 
other  members  of  the  Committee  are  unanimous  in 
approving. 

(Charles  Thomson,  secretary  of  the  Congress, 
reads  the  Declaration  of  Independence.  This  part 
should  be  assigned  to  one  who  has  a  good  clear  voice 
and  is  a  good  public  reader.  If  it  is  thought  best  not 
to  read  all  of  the  Declaration, its  most  striking  para 
graphs  should  be  read.  Do  not  forget  to  have  the 
famous  paragraph  on  slavery  read.  If  it  were 
omitted  the  great  speech  of  George  Walton  would 
be  out  of  place.) 


A    DRAMATIZATION  37 

JOHN  ADAMS.1  Mr.  President  and  Gentlemen  of  the 
Continental  Congress:  —  Sink  or  swim,  live  or  die,  sur 
vive  or  perish,  I  give  my  hand  and  my  heart  to  this 
vote  in  favor  of  this  Declaration  of  Independence.  It 
is  true,  indeed,  that  in  the  beginning  we  aimed  not  at 
independence.  But  there's  a  divinity  which  shapes 
our  ends.  The  injustice  of  England  has  driven  us  to 
arms;  and,  blinded  to  her  own  interest  for  our  good, 
she  has  obstinately  persisted,  till  independence  is  now 
within  our  grasp.  We  have  but  to  reach  forth  to  it, 
and  it  is  ours.  Why,  then,  should  we  defer  the 
Declaration  ? 

Is  any  man  so  weak  as  now  to  hope  for  a  recon 
ciliation  with  England,  which  shall  leave  either  safety 
to  the  country  and  its  liberties,  or  safety  to  his  own  life 
and  his  own  honor?  Are  not  you,2  sir,  who  sit  in  that 
chair,  is  not  he,3  our  venerable  colleague  near  you, 
are  you  not  both  already  the  proscribed  and  predes 
tined  objects  of  punishment  and  of  vengeance?  Cut 
off  from  all  hope  of  royal  clemency,  what  are  you, 
what  can  you  be,  while  the  power  of  England  remains, 
but  outlaws?  If  we  postpone  independence  do  we 
mean  to  carry  on,  or  to  give  up  the  war?  Do  we  mean 
to  submit  to  the  measures  of  Parliament,  Boston  Port 
Bill  and  all?  Do  we  mean  to  submit,  and  consent  that 
we  ourselves  shall  be  ground  to  powder,  and  our  coun 
try  and  its  rights  trodden  down  in  the  dust?  I  know  we 
do  not  mean  to  submit.  We  never  shall  submit.  Do 


is  a  part  of  Webster's  "Supposed  Speech  of  John  Adams." 
"John  Hancock.  'Samuel  Adams. 

AMKBICA   FIRST  —  3. 


38  THE    CONTINENTAL    CONGRESS 

we  intend  to  violate  that  most  solemn  obligation  ever 
entered  into  by  men,  that  plighting,  before  God,  of 
our  sacred  honor  to  Washington,  when,  putting  him 
forth  to  incur  the  dangers  of  war,  as  well  as  the  politi 
cal  hazards  of  the  times,  we  promised  to  adhere  to  him, 
in  every  extremity,  with  our  fortunes  and  our  lives? 
I  know  there  is  not  a  man  here  who  would  not  rather 
see  a  general  conflagration  sweep  over  the  land,  or  an 
earthquake  sink  it,  than  one  jot  or  tittle  of  that  plighted 
faith  fall  to  the  ground.  For  myself,  having  twelve 
months  ago,  in  this  place,  moved  you,  that  George 
Washington  be  appointed  commander  of  the  forces 
raised,  or  to  be  raised,  for  defense  of  American  liberty, 
may  my  right  hand  forget  her  cunning,  and  my  tongue 
cleave  to  the  roof  of  my  mouth,  if  I  hesitate  or  waver 
in  the  support  I  give  him. 

(At  the  close  of  Mr.  Adams9  speech  there  is  loud 
clamor  for  recognition.  The  president  recognizes 
Edward  Rutledge  of  South  Carolina,  who  speaks 
against  the  Declaration.} 

EDWARD  RUTLEDGE.  JMr.  President  and~Gentlemen 
of  the  Continental  Congress: — Let  us  pause!  This 
step,  once  taken,  cannot  be  retraced.  This  resolution, 
once  passed,  will  cut  off  all  hope  of  reconciliation.  If 
success  attend  the  arms  of  England,  we  shall  then  be  no 
longer  colonies,  with  charters,  and  with  privileges. 
These  will  all  be  forfeited  by  this  act;  and  we  shall  be 

Webster's  "Supposed  Speech  of  Opposition  to  Independence." 


A    DRAMATIZATION  39 

in  the  condition  of  other  conquered  people — at  the 
mercy  of  the  conquerors.  For  ourselves,  we  may  be 
ready  to  run  the  hazard;  but  are  we  ready  to  carry  the 
country  to  that  length?  Is  success  so  probable  as  to 
justify  it?  Where  is  the  military,  where  the  naval 
power,  by  which  we  are  to  resist  the  whole  strength  of 
the  arm  of  England?  For  she  will  exert  that  strength 
to  the  utmost.  Can  we  rely  on  the  constancy  and  per 
severance  of  the  people? — or  will  they  not  act  as  the 
people  of  other  countries  have  acted,  and,  wearied  with 
a  long  war,  submit  in  the  end,  to  a  worse  oppression? 
While  we  stand  on  our  old  ground,  and  insist  on  redress 
of  grievances,  we  know  we  are  right,  and  are  not  an 
swerable  for  consequences.  Nothing,  then,  can  be 
imputable  to  us. 

(At  the  close  of  Mr.  Rutledge's  speech  there  is  a 
clamor  for  recognition.  The  president  recognizes 
Roger  Sherman  of  Connecticut.) 

ROGER  SHERMAN.  !Mr.  President  and  Gentlemen 
of  the  Continental  Congress: — The  war  must  go  on. 
We  must  fight  it  through.  And  if  the  war  must  go  on, 
why  put  off  longer  the  Declaration  of  Independence  ? 
That  measure  will  strengthen  us.  It  will  give  us  char 
acter  abroad.  The  nations  will  then  treat  with  us, 
which  they  never  can  do  while  we  acknowledge  our 
selves  subjects,  irj.  arms  against  our  sovereign.  Nay, 
I  maintain  that  England  herself  will  sooner  treat  for 

VFrom  Webster's  "Supposed  Speech  of  John  Adams." 


40  THE    CONTINENTAL    CONGRESS 

peace  with  us  on  the  footing  of  independence,  than 
consent,  by  repealing  her  acts,  to  acknowledge  that 
her  whole  conduct  toward  us  has  been  a  course  of  in 
justice  and  oppression.  Her  pride  will  be  less  wounded 
by  submitting  to  the  course  of  things  which  now  pre 
destinates  our  independence,  than  by  yielding  the 
points  in  controversy  to  her  rebellious  subjects.  The 
former  she  will  regard  as  the  result  of  fortune;  the 
latter  she  would  feel  as  her  own  deep  disgrace.  Why, 
then,  why,  then,  sir,  do  we  not  as  soon  as  possible 
change  this  from  a  civil  to  a  national  war?  And  since 
we  must  fight  it  through,  why  not  put  ourselves  in  a 
state  to  enjoy  all  the  benefits  of  victory,  if  we  gain  the 
victory? 

If  we  fail,  it  can  be  no  worse  for  us.  But  we  shall 
not  fail.  The  cause  will  raise  up  armies;  the  cause 
will  create  navies.  The  people,  the  people,  if  we  are 
true  to  them  will  carry  us,  and  will  carry  themselves, 
gloriously  through  this  struggle.  I  care  not  how  fickle 
other  people  have  been  found.  I  know  the  people  of 
these  colonies,  and  I  know  that  resistance  to  British 
aggression  is  deep  and  settled  in  their  hearts,  and  can 
not  be  eradicated.  Every  colony,  indeed,  has  expressed 
its  willingness  to  follow,  if  we  but  take  the  lead.  Sir, 
the  Declaration  will  inspire  the  people  with  increased 
courage.  Instead  of  a  long  and  bloody  war  for  the 
restoration  of  privileges,  for  redress  of  grievances,  for 
chartered  immunities,  held  under  a  British  king,  set 
before  them  the  glorious  object  of  entire  independence, 
and  it  will  breathe  into  them  anew  the  breath  of  life. 
Read  this  Declaration  at  the  head  of  the  army ;  every 


A    DRAMATIZATION  41 

sword  will  be  drawn  from  its  scabbard,  and  the  solemn 
vow  uttered  to  maintain  it,  or  to  perish  on  the  bed  of 
honor.  Publish  it  from  the  pulpit,  religion  will  approve 
it,  and  the  love  of  religious  liberty  will  cling  around  it, 
resolved  to  stand  with  it,  or  fall  with  it.  Send  it  to  the 
public  halls;  proclaim  it  there;  let  them  hear  it  who 
heard  the  first  roar  of  the  enemy's  cannon;  let  them 
see  it  who  saw  their  brothers  and  their  sons  fall  on  the 
field  of  Bunker  Hill  and  in  the  streets  of  Lexington 
and  Concord,  and  the  very  walls  will  cry  out  in  its 
support. 

(At  the  close  of  Mr.  Sherman's  speech  there  is  a 
loud  clamor  for  recognition.  The  president  recog 
nizes  John  Dickinson  of  Pennsylvania.) 

JOHN  DICKINSON.  *Mr.  President  and  Gentlemen  of 
the  Continental  Congress: — If  we  now  change  our  ob 
ject,  carry  our  pretensions  farther,  and  set  up  for  abso 
lute  independence,  we  shall  lose  the  sympathy  of  man 
kind.  We  shall  no  longer  be  defending  what  we  pos 
sess,  but  struggling  for  something  which  we  never  did 
possess,  and  which  we  have  solemnly  and  uniformly 
disclaimed  all  intention  of  pursuing,  from  the  very 
outset  of  the  troubles.  Abandoning  thus  our  old 
ground  of  resistance  only  to  arbitrary  acts  of  oppres 
sion,  the  nations  will  believe  the  whole  to  have  been 
mere  pretense,  and  they  will  look  on  us,  not  as  injured, 
but  as  ambitious  subjects.  I  shudder  before  this  re- 

iFrom  Webster's  "Supposed  Speech  of  Opposition  to  Independence." 


(,42)  BENJAMIN  FRANKLIN 


A    DRAMATIZATION  43 

sponsibility.  It  will  be  upon  us,  it  will  be  upon  us,  if, 
relinquishing  the  ground  we  have  stood  upon  so  long, 
and  stood  so  safely,  we  now  proclaim  independence, 
and  carry  on  the  war  for  that  object,  while  these  cities 
burn,  these  pleasant  fields  whiten  and  bleach  with  the 
bones  of  their  owners,  and  these  streams  run  blood. 
It  will  be  upon  us,  it  will  be  upon  us,  if  failing  to  main 
tain  this  unseasonable  and  ill-judged  Declaration,  a 
sterner  despotism,  maintained  by  military  power, 
shall  be  established  over  our  posterity,  when  we  our 
selves,  given  up  by  an  exhausted,  a  harassed,  a  mis 
led  people,  shall  have  expiated  our  rashness  and  atoned 
for  our  presumption  on  the  scaffold. 

(At  the  close  of  Mr.  Dickinson's  speech  there  is 
a  loud  clamor  for  recognition.  The  president  recog 
nizes  Benjamin  Franklin  of  Pennsylvania.) 

BENJAMIN  FRANKLIN.  !Mr.  President  and  Gentle 
men  of  the  Continental  Congress: — I  know  the  un 
certainty  of  human  affairs,  but  I  see,  I  see  clearly, 
through  this  day's  business.  You  and  I,  indeed,  may 
rue  it.  We  may  not  live  to  the  time  when  this  Declara 
tion  shall  be  made  good.  We  may  die;  die  colonists; 
die  slaves;  die,  it  may  be  ignominiously  and  on  the 
scaffold.  Be  it  so.  Be  it  so.  If  it  be  the  pleasure  of 
Heaven  that  my  country  shall  require  the  poor  offer 
ing  of  my  life,  the  victim  shall  be  ready,  at  the  ap 
pointed  hour  of  sacrifice,  come  when  that  hour  may. 

Webster's  "Supposed  Speech  of  John  Adams." 


44  THE    CONTINENTAL    CONGRESS 

But  while  I  do  live,  let  me  have  a  country,  or  at  least 
the  hope  of  a  country,  and  that  a  free  country. 

But  whatever  may  be  our  fate,  be  assured,  be  as 
sured  that  this  Declaration  will  stand.  It  may  cost 
treasure,  and  it  may  cost  blood;  but  it  will  stand,  and 
it  will  richly  compensate  for  both.  Through  the  thick 
gloom  of  the  present,  I  see  the  brightness  of  the  future 
as  the  sun  in  heaven.  We  shall  make  this  a  glorious, 
an  immortal  day.  When  we  are  in  our  graves,  our 
children  will  honor  it.  They  will  celebrate  it  with 
thanksgiving,  with  festivity,  with  bonfires,  and  il 
luminations.  On  its  annual  return  they  will  shed  tears, 
copious,  gushing  tears,  not  of  subjection  and  slavery, 
not  of  agony  and  distress,  but  of  exultation,  of  grati 
tude,  and  of  joy.  Sir,  before  God,  I  believe  the  hour 
has  come.  My  whole  heart  is  in  it.  All  that  I  have, 
and  all  that  I  am,  and  all  that  I  hope  in  this  life,  I  am 
now  ready  here  to  stake  upon  it;  and  I  leave  off  as 
Mr.  Adams  of  Massachusetts  began,  that,  sink  or 
swim,  live  or  die,  survive  or  perish,  I  am  for  the  Dec 
laration.  It  is  my  living  sentiment,  and  by  the  blessing 
of  God  it  shall  be  my  dying  sentiment,  independence 
now,  and  INDEPENDENCE  FOREVER! 

(There  is  a  loud  clamor  for  recognition,   and  the 
president  recognizes  George  Walton  of  Georgia.) 

GEORGE  WALTON.  *Mr.  President  and  Gentlemen 
of  the  Continental  Congress:  — I  am  for  this  Declara 
tion  if  the  paragraph  on  slavery  is  struck  out.  But  I 

Adapted  from  the  "Corner  Stone"  speech  of  Alexander  H.  Stephens,  and 
arranged  by  William  R.  Hood,  Bureau  of  Education,  Washington,  D.  C. 


A    DRAMATIZATION  45 

will  oppose  it  to  the  end  if  that  paragraph  is  permitted 
to  remain  a  part  of  it.  There  is  not  one  good  reason 
for  introducing  the  slavery  question  at  this  time.  The 
relations  between  individual  master  and  slave  have  no 
place  here  in  the  greater  and  graver  matter  of  differ 
ences  between  the  British  Government  and  the  Amer 
ican  Colonies.  But  since  the  issue  is  thrust  upon  us,  I 
propose  to  meet  it  squarely  and  fearlessly. 

Mr.  President  and  gentlemen,  you  cannot  make 
equal  what  God  Almighty  has  made  unequal.  Can 
the  Ethiopian  change  his  skin  or  the  leopard  his  spots? 
The  Bible  commands  in  the  most  emphatic  language 
that  servants  obey  in  all  things  their  masters.  Liberty 
loving  Greece  had  her  slaves.  Shall  liberty  loving 
America  have  less?  Strike  out  that  obnoxious  para 
graph  and  every  delegate  from  the  Southern  colonies 
will  fall  in  line  for  the  Declaration  of  Independence, 
but  if  you  make  that  paragraph  a  part  of  the  Decla 
ration  many  delegates  from  the  South  will  withdraw 
from  this  convention,  and  then  you  will  fight  your  own 
battles. 

This  paragraph  on  slavery  is  founded  upon  ideas 
fundamentally  wrong.  These  ideas  rest  upon  the  as 
sumption  of  the  equality  of  the  races.  This  is  an  error. 
It  is  a  sandy  foundation  and  a  government  founded 
upon  it  will  fall  when  the  storms  come  and  the  winds 
blow. 

Let  us  found  our  new  government  upon  the 
great  truth  that  the  negro  is  not  the  equal  of  the  white 
man,  that  slavery — subordination  to  the  superior  race 
—is  his  natural  and  normal  condition.  This  truth  has 
been  slow  in  the  process  of  its  development,  like  all 


46  THE    CONTINENTAL    CONGRESS 

other   great    truths    in    the    various    departments    of 
science. 

Many  governments  have  been  founded  upon  the 
principle  of  the  subordination  and  serfdom  of  certain 
classes  of  the  same  race;  such  were  and  are  in  viola 
tion  of  the  laws  of  nature.  With  us,  all  the  white  race, 
however  high  or  low,  rich  or  poor,  are  equal  in  the  eye 
of  the  law.  Not  so  with  the  negro;  subordination 
is  his  place.  He,  by  nature  or  by  the  curse  of  Ca 
naan,  is  fitted  for  that  condition  which  he  now  occu 
pies  in  our  system.  The  architect,  in  the  construc 
tion  of  a  building,  lays  the  foundation  with  proper 
material — the  granite;  then  comes  the  brick  or  the 
marble.  The  substratum  of  our  society  is  made  of  the 
material  fitted  by  nature  for  it,  and  by  experience  we 
know  that  it  is  best  not  only  for  the  superior  race,  but 
for  the  inferior  race,  that  it  should  be  so.  It  is,  indeed, 
in  conformity  with  the  laws  of  the  Creator.  It  is  not 
for  us  to  inquire  into  the  wisdom  of  His  plans,  or  to 
question  them.  For  His  own  good  purposes  He  has 
made  one  race  to  differ  from  another,  as  He  has  made 
"one  star  to  differ  from  another  star  in  glory." 

Therefore,  I  declare  again  that  you  cannot  make 
equal  what  God  Almighty  has  made  unequal.  He 
has  made  the  negro  and  the  white  man  unequal.  You 
cannot  make  them  equal.  And  I  move  that  the  para 
graph  on  slavery  be  struck  out.  I  have  measured  my 
words,  gentlemen.  The  responsibility  is  yours. 

(At  the  close  of  Mr.  Walton's  speech  there  is  a 
loud  clamor  for  recognition,  and  the  chair  recog 
nizes  Samuel  Adams.) 


A    DRAMATIZATION  47 

SAMUEL  ADAMS.  Mr.  President  and  Gentlemen:— 
While  I  have  no  personal  objections  against  this  para 
graph  on  slavery--! or  personally  I  favor  it — yet  from 
the  standpoint  of  the  general  welfare  of  the  colonies, 
I  deem  it  unwise  at  this  time  to  take  any  action  either 
for  or  against  the  question  of  slavery.  Therefore  I 
second  the  motion  of  Mr.  Walton  to  strike  out  the 
paragraph  on  slavery. 

MR.  HANCOCK.  Gentlemen  of  the  Continental  Con 
gress: — It  has  been  duly  moved  and  seconded  that  the 
paragraph  in  this  Declaration  on  slavery  be  struck 
out.  You  have  heard  the  motion,  are  there  any  re 
marks? 

WILLIAM  HOOPER.  Mr.  President,  before  voting 
on  this  motion,  I  wish  to  have  the  paragraph  on  slav 
ery  read  again. 

(This  request  is  seconded  by  many  of  the  delegates.) 

MR.  HANCOCK.  The  secretary  will  read  the  para 
graph  on  slavery  again. 

(The  secretary  reads  the  paragraph  on  slavery  as 
follows:) 

He  has  waged  cruel  war  against  human  nature  it 
self,  violating  its  most  sacred  rights  of  life  and  liberty 
in  the  persons  of  a  distant  people  who  never  offended 
him,  captivating  and  carrying  them  into  slavery  in 


48  THE    CONTINENTAL    CONGRESS 

another  hemisphere,  or  to  incur  miserable  death  in 
their  transportation  thither.  This  piratical  warfare, 
the  opprobium  of  infidel  powers,  is  the  warfare  of  the 
Christian  king  of  Great  Britain.  Determined  to  keep 
open  a  market  where  men  should  be  bought  and  sold, 
he  has  prostituted  his  negative  for  suppressing  every 
legislative  attempt  to  prohibit  or  to  restrain  this  exe 
crable  commerce.  And  that  this  assemblage  of  horrors 
might  want  no  fact  of  distinguished  dye,  he  is  now  ex 
citing  those  very  people  to  rise  in  arms  among  us  and 
to  purchase  that  liberty  of  which  he  has  deprived  them 
by  murdering  the  people  upon  whom  he  obtruded  them: 
thus  paying  off,  former  crimes  committed  against  the 
liberties  of  one  people,  with  crimes  which  he  urges  them 
to  commit  against  the  lives  of  another. 

(After  the  reading  of  this  paragraph  the  delegates 
call  for  a  vote  on  Mr.  Walton's  motion.) 

MR.  HANCOCK.  Gentlemen  of  the  Congress,  a  vote 
is  called  for  on  Mr.  Walton's  motion  to  strike  out  the 
paragraph  on  slavery.  As  many  as  are  in  favor  of  this 
motion  make  it  known  by  saying  "aye"  (a  strong  aye 
vote);  as  many  as  are  opposed  to  the  motion  make  it 
known  by  responding  "no"  (a  light  vote  of  noes) .  The 
ayes  seem  to  have  it,  the  ayes  have  it,  and  the  para 
graph  on  slavery  is  struck  out.  Gentlemen,  what  is 
your  further  pleasure? 

(A  loud  clamor  for  recognition,  the  chair  recog 
nizing  Joseph  Hewes  of  North  Carolina.) 


A    DRAMATIZATION  49 


JOSEPH  HEWES.  ^r.  President  and  Gentlemen 
of  the  Continental  Congress:  —  No  man  thinks  more 
highly  than  I  do  of  the  patriotism,  as  well  as  the 
abilities,  of  the  very  worthy  gentlemen  who  have  op 
posed  this  Declaration  in  these  debates.  But  different 
men  often  see  the  same  subject  in  different  lights;  and, 
therefore,  I  hope  it  will  not  be  thought  disrespectful 
to  those  gentlemen,  if,  entertaining,  as  I  do,  opinions 
of  a  character  very  opposite  to  theirs,  I  shall  speak 
forth  my  sentiments  freely  and  without  reserve.  This 
is  no  time  for  ceremony.  The  question  before  the  house 
is  one  of  awful  moment  to  this  country.  For  my  own 
part,  I  consider  it  as  nothing  less  than  a  question  of 
freedom  or  slavery;  and  in  proportion  to  the  magni 
tude  of  the  subject  ought  to  be  the  freedom  of  debate. 
It  is  only  in  this  way  that  we  can  hope  to  arrive  at 
truth,  and  fulfill  the  great  responsibility  which  we  hold 
to  God  and  our  country.  Should  I  keep  back  my 
opinions  at  such  a  time,  through  fear  of  giving  offense, 
I  should  consider  myself  as  guilty  of  treason  toward 
my  country,  and  of  an  act  of  disloyalty  toward  the 
Majesty  of  Heaven,  which  I  revere  above  all  earthly 
kings. 

Mr.  President,  it  is  natural  for  man  to  indulge  in 
the  illusions  of  hope.  We  are  apt  to  shut  our  eyes 
against  a  painful  truth,  and  listen  to  the  song  of  that 
siren,  till  she  transforms  us  into  beasts.  Is  this  the 
part  of  wise  men,  engaged  in  a  great  and  arduous 
struggle  for  liberty?  Are  we  disposed  to  be  of  the 

^rom  Wirt's  "Supposed  Speech  of  Patrick  Henry." 


50  THE    CONTINENTAL    CONGRESS 

number  of  those,  who,  having  eyes,  see  not,  and  hav 
ing  ears,  hear  not,  the  things  which  so  nearly  concern 
their  temporal  salvation?  For  my  part,  whatever 
anguish  of  spirit  it  may  cost,  I  am  willing  to  know 
the  truth;  to  know  the  worst,  and  to  provide  for  it. 

I  have  but  one  lamp  by  which  my  feet  are  guided; 
and  that  is  the  lamp  of  experience.  I  know  of  no  way 
of  judging  of  the  future  but  by  the  past.  And  judging 
by  the  past,  I  wish  to  know  what  there  has  been  in  the 
conduct  of  the  British  ministry  for  the  last  ten  years, 
to  justify  those  hopes  with  which  gentlemen  have  been 
pleased  to  solace  themselves  and  the  house?  Is  it  that 
insidious  smile  with  which  our  petition  has  been  lately 
received?  Trust  it  not,  sir;  it  will  prove  a  snare  to 
your  feet.  Suffer  not  yourselves  to  be  betrayed  with  a 
kiss.  Ask  yourselves  how  this  gracious  reception  of 
our  petition  comports  with  those  warlike  preparations 
which  cover  our  waters  and  darken  our  land.  Are 
fleets  and  armies  necessary  to  a  work  of  love  and  recon 
ciliation?  Have  we  shown  ourselves  so  unwilling  to  be 
reconciled,  that  force  must  be  called  in  to  win  back 
our  love?  Let  us  not  deceive  ourselves,  sir.  These 
are  the  implements  of  war  and  subjugation;  the  last 
arguments  to  which  kings  resort.  I  ask  gentlemen, 
sir,  what  means  this  martial  array,  if  its  purpose  be  not 
to  force  us  to  submission?  Can  gentlemen  assign  any 
other  possible  motive  for  it?  Has  Great  Britain  any 
enemy,  in  this  quarter  of  the  world,  that  calls  for  all  this 
accumulation  of  navies  and  armies?  No,  sir,  she  has 
none.  They  are  meant  for  us;  they  can  be  meant  for 
no  other.  They  are  sent  over  to  bind  and  rivet  upon 


A     DRAMATIZATION  51 

us  those  chains,  which  the  British  ministry  have  been 
so  long  forging.  And  what  have  we  to  oppose  to  them? 
Shall  we  try  argument?  Sir,  we  have  been  trying  that 
for  the  last  ten  years.  Have  we  anything  new  to  offer 
upon  the  subject?  Nothing!  We  have  held  the  sub 
ject  up  in  every  light  of  which  it  is  capable;  but  it 
has  been  all  in  vain.  Shall  we  resort  to  entreaty  and 
humble  supplication?  What  terms  shall  we  find, 
which  have  not  been  already  exhausted?  Let  us  not. 
I  beseech  you,  sir,  deceive  ourselves  longer. 

(A  loud  clamor  for  recognition.     The  chair  recog 
nizes  Robert  Morris  of  Pennsylvania.) 

ROBERT  MORRIS.  JMr.  President  and  Gentlemen 
of  the  Continental  Congress: — I  am  opposed  to  war 
first,  last,  and  all  the  time.  It  is  a  relic  of  barbarism. 
I  believe  in  the  gospel  of  peace  on  earth,  good  will 
toward  men.  It  would  be  better  to  settle  our  differ 
ences  with  England  even  by  flipping  a  coin  than  by 
fighting  and  killing  one  another.  Let  us  hearken  unto 
the  voice  of  God  as  it  comes  ringing  down  the  centu 
ries  from  Mount  Sinai,  "Thou  shalt  not  kill."  Shall 
this  new  government  start  out  as  the  Cain  among  the 
nations  of  earth  with  the  blood  of  our  brethren  upon 
our  hands?  God  forbid  that  we  make  ourselves  so 
foolish  and  so  reckless  as  this!  The  history  of  trial  by 
battle  is  the  history  of  folly  and  wickedness.  As  we 

Robert  Morris  later  signed  the  Declaration  of  Independence  and  through 
his  influence  the  American  Revolution  was  financed.  This  speech  is  adapted 
from  Sumner's  "True  Grandeur  of  Nations"  and  other  sources. 


52  THE    CONTINENTAL    CONGRESS 

revert  to  those  early  periods  in  the  history  of  the 
human  race  in  which  it  prevailed,  our  minds  are 
shocked  at  the  barbarism  which  we  behold;  we  are 
horror  stricken  at  the  awful  subjection  of  justice  to 
brute  force. 

Who  told  you,  fond  man!  to  regard  that  as  glory 
when  performed  by  a  nation,  which  is  condemned  as  a 
crime  and  a  barbarism,  when  committed  by  an  indi 
vidual?  In  what  vain  conceit  of  wisdom  and  virtue 
do  you  find  this  degrading  morality?  Where  is  it  de 
clared  that  God,  who  is  no  respecter  of  persons,  is  a 
respecter  of  multitudes?  Whence  do  you  draw  these 
partial  laws  of  a  powerful  and  impartial  God?  Man 
is  immortal;  but  states  are  mortal.  Man  has  a  higher 
destiny  than  states.  Shall  states  be  less  amenable  to 
the  great  moral  laws  of  God  than  man?  Each  indi 
vidual  is  an  atom  of  the  mass.  Must  not  the  mass  be 
like  individuals  of  which  it  is  composed?  Shall  the 
mass  do  what  the  individual  may  not  do?  No!  A 
thousand  times  NO!  The  same  laws  which  govern 
individuals  govern  masses,  as  the  same  laws  in  nature 
prevail  over  large  and  small  things,  controlling  the 
fall  of  an  apple  and  the  orbits  of  the  planets. 

And  who  is  this  god  of  battles  that  some  of  you  men 
believe  in  with  so  much  faith?  It  is  Mars — man-slay 
ing,  blood-polluted,  city-smiting,  Mars!  Him  we  can 
not  adore.  It  is  not  he  who  causes  the  sun  to  shine  on 
the  just  and  the  unjust.  It  is  not  he  who  tempers  the 
wind  to  the  shorn  lamb.  It  is  not  he  who  distills  the  oil 
of  gladness  in  every  upright  heart.  It  is  not  he  who 
fills  the  fountain  of  mercy  and  goodness.  He  is  not  the 


A    DRAMATIZATION  •  53 

God  of  love  and  justice.  The  god  of  battles  is  not  the 
God  of  Christians;  to  him  can  ascend  no  prayer  of 
Christian  thanksgiving;  for  him  no  words  of  worship 
in  Christian  temples,  no  swelling  anthem  to  peal  the 
note  of  praise. 

Let  us  cease,  then,  to  look  for  a  lamp  to  our  feet  in 
the  feeble  tapers  that  glimmer  in  the  sepulchers  of  the 
past.  Rather  let  us  hail  those  ever-burning  lights 
above  in  whose  beams  is  the  brightness  of  the  noon 
day.  As  the  cedars  of  Lebanon  are  higher  than  the 
grass  of  the  valley,  as  the  heavens  are  higher  than  the 
earth,  as  man  is  higher  than  the  beasts  of  the  field, 
as  the  angels  are  higher  than  man,  as  he  that  ruleth 
his  spirit  is  higher  than  he  that  taketh  a  city;  so  are 
the  virtues  and  glories  and  victories  of  peace  higher 
than  the  virtues  and  victories  of  war. 

To  this  great  work  of  world-wide  peace  let  me  sum 
mon  you.  Believe  that  you  can  do  it,  and  you  can  do 
it.  Blessed  are  the  peace-makers  for  they  are  the 
children  of  God. 

(Loud  clamor  for  recognition,  the  chair  recogniz 
ing  Patrick  Henry  of  Virginia.) 

PATRICK  HENRY.  'Mr.  President  and  Gentlemen  of 
the  Continental  Congress: — We  have  done  every 
thing  that  could  be  done,  to  avert  the  storm  which  is 
now  coming  on.  We  have  petitioned;  we  have  re 
monstrated;  we  have  supplicated;  we  have  pros- 

'From  Wirt's  "Supposed  Speech  of  Patrick  Henry." 

AMERICA  FIRST — 4. 


54  THE    CONTINENTAL    CONGRESS 

trated  ourselves  before  the  throne,  and  have  implored 
its  interposition  to  arrest  the  tyrannical  hands  of  the 
ministry  and  Parliament.  Our  petitions  have  been 
slighted;  our  remonstrances  have  produced  additional 
violence  and  insult;  our  supplications  have  been  dis 
regarded;  and  we  have  been  spurned,  with  contempt, 
from  the  foot  of  the  throne !  In  vain,  after  these  things, 
may  we  indulge  the  fond  hope  of  peace  and  reconcilia 
tion.  There  is  no  longer  any  room  for  hope.  If  we 
wish  to  be  free — if  we  mean  to  preserve  inviolate 
those  inestimable  privileges  for  which  we  have  been 
so  long  contending — if  we  mean  not  basely  to  abandon 
the  noble  struggle  in  which  we  have  been  so  long  en 
gaged,  and  which  we  have  pledged  ourselves  never  to 
abandon,  until  the  glorious  object  of  our  contest  shall 
be  obtained — we  must  fight!  I  repeat  it,  sir,  we  must 
fight!  An  appeal  to  arms  and  to  the  God  of  Hosts  is 
all  that  is  left  us. 

They  tell  us,  sir,  that  we  are  weak;  unable  to  cope 
with  so  formidable  an  adversary.  But  when  shall  we 
be  stronger?  Will  it  be  the  next  week,  or  the  next 
year?  Will  it  be  when  we  are  totally  disarmed,  and 
when  a  British  guard  shall  be  stationed  in  every  house? 
Shall  we  gather  strength  by  irresolution  and  inaction? 
Shall  we  acquire  the  means  of  effectual  resistance,  by 
lying  supinely  on  our  backs  and  hugging  the  delusive 
phantom  of  hope,  until  our  enemies  shall  have  bound 
us  hand  and  foot?  Sir,  we  are  not  weak,  if  we  make 
proper  use  of  those  means  which  the  God  of  nature 
hath  placed  in  our  power.  Three  millions  of  people, 
armed  in  the  holy  cause  of  liberty,  and  in  such  a  coun- 


A    DRAMATIZATION  55 

try  as  that  which  we  possess,  are  invincible  by  any 
force  which  our  enemy  can  send  against  us.  Besides, 
sir,  we  shall  not  fight  our  battles  alone.  There  is  a  just 
God  who  presides  over  the  destinies  of  nations,  and 
who  will  raise  up  friends  to  fight  our  battles  for  us. 
The  battle,  sir,  is  not  to  the  strong  alone;  it  is  to  the 
vigilant,  the  active,  the  brave.  Besides,  sir,  we  have 
no  election.  If  we  were  base  enough  to  desire  it,  it  is 
now  too  late  to  retire  from  the  contest.  There  is  no 
retreat,  but  in  submission  and  slavery!  Our  chains 
are  forged.  Their  clanking  may  be  heard  on  the  plains 
of  Boston.  The  war  is  inevitable — and  let  it  come! 
I  repeat  it,  sir,  let  it  come. 

It  is  in  vain,  sir,  to  extenuate  the  matter.  Gentle 
men  may  cry,  Peace,  peace — but  there  is  no  peace. 
The  war  is  actually  begun !  The  next  gale,  that  sweeps 
from  the  north,  will  bring  to  our  ears  the  clash  of 
resounding  arms!  Our  brethren  are  already  in  the 
field !  Why  stand  we  here  idle?  What  is  it  that  gentle 
men  wish?  What  would  they  have?  Is  life  so  dear, 
or  peace  so  sweet,  as  to  be  purchased  at  the  price  of 
chains  and  clavery?  Forbid  it,  Almighty  God!  I 
know  not  what  course  others  may  take;  but  as  for 
me,  give  me  liberty  or  give  me  death! 

(At  the  close  of  Mr.  Henry's  speech  there  are  loud 
calls  for  a  vote  upon  the  question.  President  Han 
cock  orders  the  secretary  to  call  the  roll  of  colo 
nies  in  geographic  order  beginning  with  New 
Hampshire.) 


56  THE    CONTINENTAL    CONGRESS 

SECRETARY  THOMSON.    New  Hampshire! 

JOSIAH  BARTLETT.  Mr.  President  and  Gentlemen:— 
New  Hampshire  is  represented  in  the  Congress  by 
three  delegates.  Her  people  have  appealed  to  us  and 
have  instructed  us  to  work  for  and  vote  for  Indepen 
dence.  I  believe  everybody  knows  more  than  any 
body.  I  consider  it  a  signal  honor,  sir,  and  it  is  the 
happiest  hour  of  my  life,  to  lead  in  this  roll  call  in 
favor  of  this  Declaration.  New  Hampshire  votes 
aye. 

(Shouts  of  "Three  cheers  for  New  Hampshire.'9) 
SECRETARY  THOMSON.    Massachusetts! 

SAMUEL  ADAMS.  Mr.  President :— The  king  of 
England  has  set  a  price  upon  your  head  and  mine. 
If  this  Declaration  is  not  made  good  by  the  people  of 
these  colonies  you  and  I  will  be  shot,  hanged  by  the 
neck  till  dead,  or  burned  at  the  stake  as  traitors.  If 
we  fail,  my  only  regret  will  be  that  I  have  but  one  life 
to  give  for  my  country.  But  with  faith  in  the  people 
and  in  God  to  carry  our  cause  through  to  a  glorious 
victory,  the  delegates  from  Massachusetts  stand  as 
one  man  for  Independence.  Massachusetts,  therefore, 
votes  aye. 

(Shouts  of  "Three  cheers  for  Massachusetts, 
and  long  live  Samuel  Adams  and  John  Hancock. 
Down  with  the  tyrant  king  of  England !") 


A    DRAMATIZATION  57 

SECRETARY  THOMSON.    Rhode  Island! 

STEPHEN  HOPKINS.  Mr.  President: — Rhode  Island 
is  a  small  colony.  She  is  represented  in  this  Congress 
by  only  two  delegates.  But  all  that  we  are  and  all  we 
hope  to  be  we  are  ready  here  and  now  to  give  for  In 
dependence.  Rhode  Island  votes  aye. 

(Shouts  of  "Three  cheers  for  brave  Rhode  Island, 
Stephen  Hopkins,  and  William  Ellery.") 

SECRETARY  THOMSON.    Connecticut! 

ROGER  SHERMAN.  Mr.  President  and  Gentlemen:— 
I  have  already  addressed  you  at  some  length  in  favor 
of  this  Declaration.  It  becomes  my  happy  duty  now 
to  cast  the  unanimous  vote  of  the  four  delegates  from 
Connecticut  for  independence.  Connecticut  votes 
aye. 

(Shouts  of  "Long  live  Roger  Sherman!    Three 
cheers  for  Connecticut.99) 

SECRETARY  THOMSON.   New  York! 

WILLIAM  FLOYD.  Mr.  President  and  Gentlemen:— 
The  instructions  against  independence  for  the  dele 
gates  from  New  York  have  never  been  recalled.  We, 
therefore,  request  the  privilege  to  refrain  from  voting 
on  this  question.  We  regret  the  situation,  gentlemen! 


58  THE    CONTINENTAL    CONGRESS 

PRESIDENT  HANCOCK.  New  York  is  excused  from 
voting  on  this  question. 

SECRETARY  THOMSON.    New  Jersey ! 

RICHARD  STOCKTON.  Mr.  President  and  Gentle 
men: — I  am  happy  to  say  that  New  Jersey  has  given 
her  five  delegates  in  this  Congress  instructions  to  vote 
for  independence.  New  Jersey,  therefore,  votes  aye. 

(Shouts  of  ''Three  cheers  for  New  Jersey") 
SECRETARY  THOMSON.     Pennsylvania! 

BENJAMIN  FRANKLIN.  Mr.  President  and  Gentle 
men: — From  the  beginning  of  this  Congress  the  dele 
gates  from  Pennsylvania  have  labored  under  instruc 
tions  against  independence.  But  during  the  past 
three  months  the  friends  of  independence  in  this  com 
monwealth  have  worked  in  season  and  out  of  season  to 
have  these  instructions  canceled  and  permission  given 
us  to  vote  for  independence.  At  a  mass  meeting  in 
Philadelphia  on  June  18,  presided  over  by  that  dis 
tinguished  and  influential  radical,  Colonel  Daniel 
Roberdeau,  and  attended  by  over  7,000  citizens  from 
all  sections  of  the  state,  a  public  sentiment  was  created 
and  started  that  resulted  in  the  overthrow  of  the  old 
government  of  the  aristocrats  of  the  old  Assembly  and 
then  established  a  new  government  of  the  people  un 
der  the  authority  of  the  Conference  of  Committees 
which  has  given  the  delegates  from  Pennsylvania  in- 


A    DRAMATIZATION  59 

structions  to  vote  for  independence.  Two  of  our  dele 
gates,  John  Dickinson  and  Robert  Morris,  have  retired 
from  this  Congress  considering  such  instructions  a 
recall  of  their  membership  in  this  body.  Two  other 
delegates  from  Pennsylvania,  Charles  Humphreys  and 
William  Williams,  question  the  authority  of  the  Con 
ference  of  Committees  and  hold  that  the  instructions 
of  the  old  defunct  Assembly  are  still  binding  upon 
them.  They  vote  against  independence.  But  James 
Wilson  who  has  been  opposed  to  Independence  bows 
to  the  will  of  the  people  and  joins  John  Morton  and 
myself  in  voting  for  Independence.  Under  the  rule  of 
this  Congress  made  in  its  beginning  session  that  a 
majority  of  the  delegates  from  each  colony,  present 
and  voting  determines  its  vote  upon  such  a  question 
as  this,  Pennsylvania  casts  two  votes  against  indepen 
dence  and  three  votes  for  independence  and  therefore 
votes  aye. 

(Shouts  of  "Three  cheers  for  Pennsylvania!  Long 
live  Benjamin  Franklin,  John  Morton,  and  James 
Wilson!99) 

(Immediately  following  the  applause  for  Frank 
lin,  Caesar  Rodney,  a  delegate  from  Delaware, 
makes  his  appearance  just  in  time  to  vote.  He  has 
come  eighty  miles  on  horseback  and  has  not  had 
time  to  change  his  boots  and  spurs  and  still  car 
ries  a  riding  whip.  He  is  given  a  great  ovation.) 

SECRETARY  THOMSON.     Delaware! 


60  THE    CONTINENTAL    CONGRESS 

THOMAS  McKEAN.  Mr.  President  and  Gentlemen: 
—Until  this  moment  the  vote  for  Delaware  has  been 
in  doubt.  George  Read,  my  colleague,  will  vote 
against  independence.  But  thank  God  the  timely 
arrival  of  Caesar  Rodney  who  joins  me  in  voting  for 
independence,  places  Delaware  on  the  right  side  of 
this  question.  To  make  sure  of  this  I  sent  an  express 
rider  at  my  own  expense  to  Dover,  Delaware,  for  Mr. 
Rodney.  He  has  come  eighty  miles  on  horseback  at 
post-haste.  He  has  not  had  time  to  change  his  riding 
attire,  but  he  is  here  in  time  to  join  me  in  voting  for 
independence.  Posterity  will  erect  a  monument  in 
his  honor1  as  they  will  to  that  other  famous  revolu 
tionary  rider — Paul  Revere.  Mr.  President,  under 
the  rule  as  stated  by  Mr.  Franklin  governing  the  votes 
of  colonies  in  this  Congress,  Delaware  votes  aye. 

(Shouts  of    "Hurrah  for  Delaware!     Long  live 
Thomas  McKean  and  Caesar  Rodney!99) 

SECRETARY  THOMSON     Maryland! 

SAMUEL  CHASE.  Mr.  President  and  Gentlemen  :— 
Maryland  has  passed  through  a  similar  struggle  to 
that  in  Pennsylvania  as  described  by  Mr.  Franklin. 
An  appeal  has  been  made  to  every  county  committee 
and  one  after  another  they  have  directed  their  repre 
sentatives  in  the  state  convention  to  vote  for  new 
instructions  to  the  delegates  in  this  Congress.  At  last 

TA  monument  was  recently  erected  at  Dover  in  his  honor. 


A    DRAMATIZATION  01 

the  old  instructions  against  independence  have  been 
canceled  and  new  instructions  given  us  in  an  unani 
mous  resolve  to  vote  for  independence.  See  the  glori 
ous  effect  of  county  instructions!  Our  people  have 
fire  if  not  smothered.  And,  therefore,  Maryland 
votes  aye. 

(Shouts  of  "Three  cheers  for  Maryland  and 
Samuel  Chase!") 

SECRETARY  THOMSON.    Virginia! 

BENJAMIN  HARRISON.  Mr.  President  and  Gentle 
men: — Virginia  is  here  with  a  solid  delegation  for  in 
dependence.  Our  battle  cry  has  been  so  well  stated 
by  Mr.  Henry  that  we  need  but  to  repeat  it  now— 
Liberty  or  Death!  Virginia  votes  aye. 

(Shouts  of  "Three  cheers  for  Virginia!  Long  live 
Richard  Henry  Lee,  Benjamin  Harrisony  Thomas 
Jefferson  and  Patrick  Henry!") 

SECRETARY  THOMSON.    North  Carolina! 

JOSEPH  HEWES.  Mr.  President  and  Gentlemen:— 
We  have  had  a  hard  struggle  in  North  Carolina  be 
tween  aristocracy  on  one  hand  and  democracy  on  the 
other.  But  at  last  the  people  have  won  and  North 
Carolina  votes  aye. 

(Shouts  of  "Three  cheers  for  North  Carolina!) 


A    DRAMATIZATION 

SECRETARY  THOMSON.     South  Carolina! 

EDWARD  RUTLEDGE.  Mr.  President  and  Gentle 
men:— When  Richard  Henry  Lee's  resolution  declar 
ing  for  independence  was  first  introduced  I  was  op 
posed  to  its  adoption  at  that  time.  I  feared  that  the 
people  of  my  colony  were  not  then  ready  for  it.  I 
thought  also  that  for  the  general  welfare  of  all  the 
colonies  it  was  then  too  early  to  declare  for  independ 
ence.  The  contest  in  South  Carolina  for  independ 
ence  has  been  as  bitter  among  her  own  people  as  it 
has  been  in  any  of  the  other  colonies.  But  opinions 
alter  and  conditions  change  with  the  passing  of  time. 
Therefore,  South  Carolina  now  has  a  solid  delegation 
here  ready  to  walk  through  the  fiery  furnace  of  war, 
though  it  be  seventy  times  heated,  to  make  this  Dec 
laration  good.  South  Carolina  votes  aye. 

(Shouts  of  "Three  cheers  for  South  Carolina  and 
Edward  Rutledge!") 

SECRETARY  THOMSON.     Georgia! 

LYMAN  HALL.  Mr.  President  and  Gentlemen: — 
Georgia  is  here  with  three  delegates  who  stand  as  one 
man  for  independence.  Though  last  on  the  roll  of 
states  on  this  question  she  will  be  among  the  first  in 
her  efforts  for  American  independence.  Georgia 
votes  aye. 

(Shouts  of  ''Three  cheers  for  Georgia?') 


64  THE    CONTINENTAL    CONGRESS 

PRESIDENT  HANCOCK.  Gentlemen  of  the  Conti 
nental  Congress: — Twelve  of  the  thirteen  colonies 
having  voted  for  the  Declaration  of  Independence, 
and  with  no  colony  going  on  record  against  it,  I  con 
sider  our  action  unanimous  for  I  am  confident  that 
the  New  York  Assembly1  will  give  her  delegation 
instructions  to  sign  this  document  in  the  near  future. 

JOHN  ADAMS.  Mr.  President,  I  move  that  this  Con 
gress  do  now  adjourn. 

BENJAMIN  FRANKLIN.  Mr.  President,  I  second  the 
motion. 

PRESIDENT  HANCOCK.  Gentlemen  of  the  Conti 
nental  Congress,  it  has  been  moved  by  Mr.  Adams 
of  Massachusetts  and  seconded  by  Mr.  Franklin  of 
Pennsylvania  that  we  do  now  adjourn.  As  many  as 
favor  this  motion  make  known  by  saying  aye. 

(Unanimous  response  of  ayes.) 

The  motion  to  adjourn  has  been  carried  unani 
mously  and  this  Congress  is  therefore  adjourned. 


SCENE  II.—  The  Spirit  of  '76. 

Here  repeat  the  Tableau  of  the  Spirit  of  Seventy-six. 

!On  July  9,  1776.  New  York  instructed  her  delegates  to  sign. 


A    DRAMATIZATION  65 


ACT  IV. 

SCENE  I. — Washington's  Resignation.  (A  special  ses 
sion  of  the  Continental  Congress  to  receive  the  Resigna 
tion  of  Washington.)  i 

PRESIDENT  HANCOCK.  Gentlemen  of  the  Conti 
nental  Congress:— Eight  years  ago  we  made  General 
George  Washington  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  armies 
raised  and  to  be  raised  for  American  Independence. 
Through  seven  long  years  of  war,  against  overwhelm 
ing  odds,  in  which  brave  men  did  brave  deeds,  the 
rich  man  gave  his  wealth  and  the  poor  man  gave  his 
life,  baptizing  their  country's  soil  with  their  own  blood 
from  Bunker  Hill  to  Yorktown,  the  brave  soldiers 
under  General  Washington  fought  on  until  an  army 
of  veteran  soldiers  surrendered  to  a  band  of  insurgent 
husbandmen.  The  American  nation  has  been  born. 
Its  independence  has  been  recognized  by  Great  Britain 
and  the  civilized  world.  Peace  has  come!  And  Gen 
eral  Washington  desires  to  surrender  his  commission 
to  the  Congress  that  elected  him  to  this  position.  He 
is  in  waiting  to  do  this.  I  therefore  appoint  John 
Adams,  of  Massachusetts,  Benjamin  Franklin  of 
Pennsylvania,  Roger  Sherman  of  Connecticut,  Samuel 
Chase  of  Maryland,  Patrick  Henry  of  Virginia,  Ed 
ward  Rutledge  of  South  Carolina,  and  Lyman  Hall  of 
Georgia,  as  an  honorary  committee  to  escort  General 
Washington  before  this  Congress  to  receive  his  resig 
nation. 


66  THE    CONTINENTAL    CONGRESS 

(General  Washington  is  escorted  before  Congress  and 
makes  the  following  address:) 

MR.  PRESIDENT: — The  great  events  on  .which  my 
resignation  depended,  having  at  length  taken  place, 
I  have  now  the  honor  of  offering  my  sincere  congratu 
lations  to  Congress,  and  of  presenting  myself  before 
them  to  surrender  into  their  hands  the  trust  committed 
to  me,  and  to  claim  the  indulgence  of  retiring  from  the 
service  of  my  country. 

Happy  in  the  confirmation  of  our  independence  and 
sovereignty,  and  pleased  with  the  opportunity  afforded 
the  United  States  of  becoming  a  respectable  nation,  I 
resign,  with  satisfaction,  the  appointment  I  accepted 
with  diffidence;  a  diffidence  in  my  abilities  to  accom 
plish  so  arduous  a  task,  which,  however,  was  super 
seded  by  a  confidence  in  the  rectitude  of  our  cause, 
the  support  of  the  Supreme  Power  of  the  Union,  and 
the  patronage  of  Heaven. 

The  successful  termination  of  the  war  has  verified 
the  most  sanguine  expectations;  and  my  gratitude 
for  the  interposition  of  Providence,  and  the  assistance 
I  have  received  from  my  countrymen,  increases  with 
every  review  of  the  momentous  contest. 

While  I  repeat  my  obligations  to  the  army  in  gen 
eral,  I  should  do  injustice  to  my  own  feelings,  not  to 
acknowledge,  in  this  place,  the  peculiar  services  and 
distinguished  merits  of  the  persons  who  have  been 
attached  to  my  person  during  the  war.  It  was  im 
possible  the  choice  of  confidential  officers  to  compose 
my  family  could  have  been  more  fortunate.  Permit 


A    DRAMATIZATION  67 

me  sir,  to  recommend  in  particular  those  who  have 
continued  in  the  service  to  the  present  moment  as 
worthy  of  the  favorable  notice  and  patronage  of  Con 
gress. 

I  consider  it  as  an  indispensable  duty  to  close  this 
last  solemn  act  of  my  official  life,  by  commending  the 
interests  of  our  dearest  country  to  the  protection  of 
Almighty  God,  and  those  who  have  the  superintend 
ence  of  them  to  his  holy  keeping. 

Having  now  finished  the  work  assigned  me,  I  retire 
from  the  great  theater  of  action;  and,  bidding  an  af 
fectionate  farewell  to  this  august  body,  under  whose 
orders  I  have  long  acted,  I  here  offer  my  commission, 
and  take  my  leave  of  all  the  employments  of  public 
life. 

(The  Continental  Congress,  standing  and  shout 
ing  in  concert,  "Long  live  General  George  Wash 
ington!     First    in  war!     First    in   peace!     And 
First  in  the  hearts  of  his  countrymen!") 

CURTAIN 


AMERICAN  PATRIOTISM 


AMERICA    FIRST .5. 


m 


(70) 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON 


WHAT  IS  PATRIOTISM 

Johnson  defines  a  patriot  as  one  whose  ruling  passion 
is  the  love  of  his  country,  and  patriotism  as  love  and 
zeal  for  one's  country.  Curtis  tells  us  that  Lowell's 
pursuit  was  literature,  but  patriotism  was  his  passion. 
"His  love  of  country  was  that  of  a  lover  for  his  mistress. 
He  resented  the  least  imputation  upon  the  ideal 
America,  and  nothing  was  finer  than  his  instinctive 
scorn  for  the  pinchbeck  patriotism  which  brags  and 
boasts  and  swaggers,  insisting  that  bigness  is  greatness 
and  vulgarity  simplicity,  and  the  will  of  a  majority 
the  moral  law." 

While  some  of  us  cannot  make  Lowell's  pursuit  our 
pursuit,  we  all  can  and  should  make  his  passion  our 
passion.  Let  us  all,  the  native  born  as  well  as  the 
naturalized,  say,  deep  down  in  our  hearts  with  a  patri 
otism  and  a  courage  that  will  back  it  up  and  make 
it  good,  "Our  Country — right  or  wrong;  if  she  is  wrong 
we  will  set  her  right;  if  she  is  right  we  will  keep  her 
right;  and  so  let  us  trust  in  God  and  believe  she  is 
right." 

Times  like  these  demand  men.  Let  American  boys 
be  taught  in  the  home  and  in  the  school  and  by  the 
example  of  their  fathers  to  be  men  among  men. 

"Men  whom  the  lust  of  office  will  not  kill, 
Men  whom  the  spoils  of  office  cannot  buy, 
Men  who  possess  opinions  and  a  wilU 
Men  who  have  honor  and  will  not  lie; 

71 


72  AMERICAN   PATRIOTISM 

Men  who  can  stand  before  the  demagogue 
And  down  his  treacherous  flattering  without  winking, 
Tall  men,  sun  crowned,  who  live  above  the  fog 
In  public  duty  and  in  private  thinking !"   l 

Times  like  these  demand  women !  Let  American 
girls  be  taught  in  the  home  and  in  the  school  and  by 
the  example  of  their  mothers  to  be  women  among 
women. 

"Be  women !     on  to  duty ! 

Raise  the  world  from  all  that's  low; 

Place  high  in  the  social  heaven 

Virtue's  fair  and  radiant  bow; 

Lend  thy  influence  to  each  effort 

That  shall  raise  our  nature  human; 

Be  not  fashion's  gilded  ladies, — 

Be  brave,  whole-souled,  true  women  f9  2 

To  help  to  make  such  men  and  women  of  all  Ameri 
can  boys  and  girls — Americans  in  deeds  as  well  as  in 
words — Americans,  who  knowing  their  riglits,dare  main 
tain  them  "without  compromise  and  at  any  cost" — this  is 
the  purpose  of  the  following  selections. 

Jasper  L.  McBrien. 


TFrom  the  poem  entitled  "Wanted,"  by  J.  G.  Holland. 
'Edward  Brooks. 


AMERICA  FOR  ME  ' 

Tis  fine  to  see  the  Old  World,  and  travel  up  and  down 

Among  the  famous  palaces  and  cities  of  renown, 

To  admire  the  crumbly  castles  and  the  statues  of  the 

kings— 
But  now  I  think  I've  had  enough  of  antiquated  things. 

So  it's  home  again,  and  home  again,  America  for  me! 
My  heart  is  turning  home  again,  and  there  I  long 

to  be, 
In  the  land  of  youth  and  freedom  beyond  the  ocean 

bars, 
Where  the  air  is  full  of  sunlight  and  the  flag  is  full 

of  stars. 

Oh!  London  is  a  man's  town,  there's  power  in  the  air; 
And  Paris  is  a  woman's  town,  with  flowers  in  her  hair; 
And  it's  sweet  to  dream  in  Venice,  and  it's  great  to 

study  Rome; 
But  when  it  comes  to  living,  there  is  no  place  like  home. 

I  like  the  German  fir-  woods,  in  green  battalions  drilled; 
I  like  the  gardens  of  Versailles  with  flashing  fountains 

filled; 
But,  oh,  to  take  your  hand,   my  dear,  and  ramble 

for  a  day 
In  the  friendly  western  woodland  where  Nature  has 

her  way! 


"White  Bees  and  Other  Poems,"  by  Henry  van  Dyke,  copyright, 
1909,  by  Charles  Scribner's  Sons.  By  permission  of  Charles  Scribner's 
Sons,  publishers. 

78 


74  AMERICAN    PATRIOTISM 

I  know  that  Europe's  wonderful,  yet  something  seems 
to  lack : 

The  Past  is  too  much  with  her,  and  the  people  look 
ing  back. 

But  the  glory  of  the  Present  is  to  make  the  Future 
free— 

We  love  our  land  for  what  she  is  and  what  she  is  to  be. 

Oh,  it?s  home  again,  and  home  again,  America  for  me! 
I  want  a  ship  that's  westward  bound  to  plough  the 

rolling  sea, 
To  the  blessed  Land  of  Room  Enough  beyond  the 

ocean  bars, 
Where  the  air  is  full  of  sunlight  and  the  flag  is  full 

of  stars, 

Henry  van  Dyke 


AMERICA  FIRST 

The  following  address  was  delivered  by  President  Wilson  at  the  celebra 
tion  of  the  twenty-fifth  anniversary  of  the  Daughters  of  the  American 
Revolution,  Washington,  D.  C.,  October  llth,  1915.  It  is  given  here  by 
special  permission  of  the  president. 

MADAM  PRESIDENT  AND  LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN:— 
Again  it  is  my  very  great  privilege  to  welcome  you  to 
the  city  of  Washington  and  to  the  hospitalities  of  the 
Capital.  May  I  admit  a  point  of  ignorance?  I  was 
surprised  to  learn  that  this  association  is  so  young,  and 
that  an  association  so  young  should  devote  itself  wholly 
to  memory  I  cannot  believe.  For  to  me  the  duties  to 
which  you  are  consecrated  are  more  than  the  duties  and 
the  pride  of  memory. 

There  is  a  very  great  thrill  to  be  had  from  the  memo 
ries  of  the  American  Revolution,  but  the  American 
Revolution  was  a  beginning,  not  a  consummation,  and 
the  duty  laid  upon  us  by  that  beginning  is  the  duty  of 
bringing  the  things  then  begun  to  a  noble  triumph  of 
completion.  For  it  seems  to  me  that  the  peculiarity  of 
patriotism  in  America  is  that  it  is  not  a  mere  sentiment. 
It  is  an  active  principle  of  conduct.  It  is  something 
that  was  born  into  the  world,  not  to  please  it  but  to 
regenerate  it.  It  is  something  that  was  born  into  the 
world  to  replace  systems  that  had  preceded  it  and  to 
bring  men  out  upon  a  new  plane  of  privilege.  The  glory 
of  the  men  whose  memories  you  honor  and  perpetu 
ate  is  that  they  saw  this  vision,  and  it  was  a  vision  of 
the  future.  It  was  a  vision  of  great  days  to  come  when 
a  little  handful  of  three  million  people  upon  the  bor- 

75 


76  AMERICAN     PATRIOTISM 

ders  of  a  single  sea  should  have  become  a  great  multi 
tude  of  free  men  and  women  spreading  across  a  great 
continent,  dominating  the  shores  of  two  oceans,  and 
sending  West  as  well  as  East  the  influences  of  individual 
freedom.  These  things  were  consciously  in  their  minds 
as  they  framed  the  great  Government  which  was  born 
out  of  the  American  Revolution;  and  every  time  we 
gather  to  perpetuate  their  memories  it  is  incumbent 
upon  us  that  we  should  be  worthy  of  recalling  them 
and  that  we  should  endeavor  by  every  means  in  our 
power  to  emulate  their  example. 

The  American  Revolution  was  the  birth  of  a  nation; 
it  was  the  creation  of  a  great  free  republic  based  upon 
traditions  of  personal  liberty  which  theretofore  had 
been  confined  to  a  single  little  island,  but  which  it  was 
purposed  should  spread  to  all  mankind.  And  the  singu 
lar  fascination  of  American  history  is  that  it  has  been 
a  process  of  constant  re-creation,  of  making  over  again 
in  each  generation  the  thing  which  was  conceived  at 
first.  You  know  how  peculiarly  necessary  that  has 
been  in  our  case,  because  America  has  not  grown  by 
the  mere  multiplication  of  the  original  stock.  It  is 
easy  to  preserve  tradition  with  continuity  of  blood; 
it  is  easy  in  a  single  family  to  remember  the  origins  of 
the  race  and  the  purposes  of  its  organization;  but  it  is 
not  so  easy  when  that  race  is  constantly  being  renewed 
and  augmented  from  other  sources,  from  stocks  that 
did  not  carry  or  originate  the  same  principles. 

So  from  generation  to  generation  strangers  have  had 
to  be  indoctrinated  with  the  principles  of  the  American 
family,  and  the  wonder  and  the  beauty  of  it  all  has  been 


AMERICA     FIRST  77 

that  the  infection  has  been  so  generously  easy.  For 
the  principles  of  liberty  are  united  with  the  principles 
of  hope.  Every  individual,  as  well  as  every  nation, 
wishes  to  realize  the  best  thing  that  is  in  him,  the  best 
thing  that  can  be  conceived  out  of  the  materials  of 
which  his  spirit  is  constructed  It  has  happened  in  a 
way  that  fascinates  the  imagination  that  we  have  not 
only  been  augmented  by  additions  from  outside,  but 
that  we  have  been  greatly  stimulated  by  those  addi 
tions.  Living  in  the  easy  prosperity  of  a  free  people, 
knowing  that  the  sun  had  always  been  free  to  shine 
upon  us  and  prosper  our  undertakings,  we  did  not 
realize  how  hard  the  task  of  liberty  is  and  how  rare  the 
privilege  of  liberty  is;  but  men  were  drawn  out  of 
every  climate  and  out  of  every  race  because  of  an  ir 
resistible  attraction  of  their  spirits  to  the  American 
ideal.  They  thought  of  America  as  lifting,  like  that 
great  statue  in  the  harbor  of  New  York,  a  torch  to 
light  the  pathway  of  men  to  the  things  that  they  de 
sire,  and  men  of  all  sorts  and  conditions  struggled 
toward  that  light  and  came  to  our  shores  with  an  eager 
desire  to  realize  it,  and  a  hunger  for  it  such  as  some  of 
us  no  longer  felt,  for  we  were  as  if  satiated  and  satisfied 
and  were  indulging  ourselves  after  a  fashion  that  did 
not  belong  to  the  ascetic  devotion  of  the  early  devotees 
of  those  great  principles.  Strangers  came  to  remind 
us  of  what  we  had  promised  ourselves  and  through 
ourselves  had  promised  mankind.  All  men  came  to  us 
and  said,  "Where  is  the  bread  of  life  with  which  you 
promised  to  feed  us,  and  have  you  partaken  of  it  your 
selves?"  For  my  part,  I  believe  that  the  constant 


78  AMERICAN    PATRIOTISM 

renewal  of  this  people  out  of  foreign  stocks  has  been  a 
constant  source  of  reminder  to  this  people  of  what  the 
inducement  was  that  was  offered  to  men  who  would 
come  and  be  of  our  number. 

Now  we  have  come  to  a  time  of  special  stress  and 
test.  There  never  was  time  when  we  needed  more 
clearly  to  conserve  the  principles  of  our  own  patriotism 
than  this  present  time.  The  rest  of  the  world  from 
which  our  polities  were  drawn  seems  for  the  time  in 
the  crucible  and  no  man  can  predict  what  will  come 
out  of  that  crucible.  We  stand  apart,  unembroiled, 
conscious  of  our  own  principles,  conscious  of  what  we 
hope  and  purpose,  so  far  as  our  powers  permit,  for  the 
world  at  large,  and  it  is  necessary  that  we  should  con 
solidate  the  American  principle.  Every  political 
action,  every  social  action,  should  have  for  its  object 
in  America  at  this  time  to  challenge  the  spirit  of  Ameri 
ca;  to  ask  that  every  man  and  woman  who  thinks  first 
of  America  should  rally  to  the  standards  of  our  life. 
There  have  been  some  among  us  who  have  not  thought 
first  of  America,  who  have  thought  to  use  the  might  of 
America  in  some  matter  not  of  America's  origination. 
They  have  forgotten  that  the  first  duty  of  a  nation  is 
to  express  its  own  individual  principles  in  the  action 
of  the  family  of  nations  and  not  to  seek  to  aid  and  abet 
any  rival  or  contrary  ideal.  Neutrality  is  a  negative 
word.  It  is  a  word  that  does  not  express  what  America 
ought  to  feel.  America  has  a  heart  and  that  heart 
throbs  with  all  sorts  of  intense  sympathies,  but 
America  has  schooled  its  heart  to  love  the  things  that 
America  believes  in  and  it  ought  to  devote  itself  only  to 


AMERICA    FIRST  79 

the  things  that  America  believes  in;  and,  believing  that 
America  stands  apart  in  its  ideals,  it  ought  not  to  allow 
itself  to  be  drawn,  so  far  as  its  heart  is  concerned,  into 
anybody's  quarrel.  Not  because  it  does  not  under 
stand  the  quarrel,  not  because  it  does  not  in  its  head 
assess  the  merits  of  the  controversy,  but  because 
America  has  promised  the  world  to  stand  apart  and 
maintain  certain  principles  of  action  which  are  grounded 
in  law  and  in  justice.  We  are  not  trying  to  keep  out  of 
trouble;  we  are  trying  to  preserve  the  foundations  upon 
which  peace  can  be  rebuilt.  Peace  can  be  rebuilt  only 
upon  the  ancient  and  accepted  principles  of  interna 
tional  law,  only  upon  those  things  which  remind  nations 
of  their  duties  to  each  other,  and,  deeper  than  that,  of 
their  duties  to  mankind  and  to  humanity. 

America  has  a  great  cause  which  is  not  confined  to  the 
American  continent.  It  is  the  cause  of  humanity  it 
self.  I  do  not  mean  in  anything  that  I  say  even  to  im 
ply  a  judgment  upon  any  nation  or  upon  any  policy, 
for  my  object  here  this  afternoon  is  not  to  sit  in  judg 
ment  upon  anybody  but  ourselves  and  to  challenge 
you  to  assist  all  of  us  who  are  trying  to  make  America 
more  than  ever  conscious  of  her  own  principles  and  her 
own  duty.  I  -look  forward  to  the  necessity  in  every 
political  agitation  in  the  years  which  are  immediately 
at  hand  of  calling  upon  every  man  to  declare  himself, 
where  he  stands.  Is  it  America  first,  or  is  it  not? 

We  ought  to  be  very  careful  about  some  of  the  im 
pressions  that  we  are  forming  just  now.  There  is  too 
general  an  impression,  I  fear,  that  very  large  numbers 
of  our  fellow  citizens  born  in  other  lands  have  not  en- 


80  AMERICAN    PATRIOTISM 

tertained  with  sufficient  intensity  and  affection  the 
American  ideal.  But  the  number  of  such  is,  I  am  sure, 
not  large.  Those  who  would  seek  to  represent  them 
are  very  vocal,  but  they  are  not  very  influential.  Some 
of  the  best  stuff  of  America  has  come  out  of  foreign 
lands,  and  some  of  the  best  stuff  in  America  is  in  the 
men  who  are  naturalized  citizens  of  the  United  States. 
I  would  not  be  afraid  upon  the  test  of  "America  first" 
to  take  a  census  of  all  the  foreign-born  citizens  of  the 
United  States,  for  I  know  that  the  vast  majority  of 
them  came  here  because  they  believed  in  America;  and 
their  belief  in  America  has  made  them  better  citizens 
than  some  people  who  were  born  in  America.  They 
can  say  that  they  have  bought  this  privilege  with  a 
great  price.  They  have  left  their  homes,  they  have  left 
their  kindred,  they  have  broken  all  the  nearest  and 
dearest  ties  of  human  life  in  order  to  come  to  a  new 
land,  take  a  new  rootage,  begin  a  new  life,  and  so  by 
self-sacrifice  express  their  confidence  in  a  new  princi 
ple;  whereas,  it  cost  us  none  of  these  things.  We  were 
born  into  this  privilege;  we  were  rocked  and  cradled 
in  it;  we  did  nothing  to  create  it;  and  it  is,  therefore, 
the  greater  duty  on  our  part  to  do  a  great  deal  to  en 
hance  it  and  preserve  it.  I  am  not  deceived  as  to  the 
balance  of  opinion  among  the  foreign-born  citizens  of 
the  United  States,  but  I  am  in  a  hurry  for  an  oppor 
tunity  to  have  a  line-up  and  let  the  men  who  are 
thinking  first  of  other  countries  stand  on  one  side  and 
all  those  that  are  for  America  first,  last,  and  all  the  time 
on  the  other  side. 

Now,  you  can  do  a  great  deal  in  this  direction.  When 


AMEiUCA    FIRST  81 

I  was  a  college  officer  I  used  to  be  very  much  opposed 
to  hazing;  not  because  hazing  is  not  wholesome,  but 
because  sophomores  are  poor  judges.  I  remember  a 
very  dear  friend  of  mine,  a  professor  of  ethics  on  the 
other  side  of  the  water,  was  asked  if  he  thought  it  was 
ever  justifiable  to  tell  a  he.  He  said  Yes,  he  thought 
it  was  sometimes  justifiable  to  lie;  "but,"  he  said, 
"it  is  so  difficult  to  judge  of  the  justification  that  I 
usually  tell  the  truth."  I  think  that  ought  to  be  the 
motto  of  the  sophomore.  There  are  freshmen  who  need 
to  be  hazed,  but  the  need  is  to  be  judged  by  such  nice 
tests  that  a  sophomore  is  hardly  old  enough  to  deter 
mine  them.  But  the  world  can  determine  them.  We 
are  not  freshmen  at  college,  but  we  are  constantly 
hazed.  I  would  a  great  deal  rather  be  obliged  to  draw 
pepper  up  my  nose  than  to  observe  the  hostile  glances 
of  my  neighbors.  I  would  a  great  deal  rather  be  beaten 
than  ostracized.  I  would  a  great  deal  rather  endure 
any  sort  of  physical  hardship  if  I  might  have  the  af 
fection  of  my  fellow  men.  We  constantly  discipline 
our  fellow  citizens  by  having  an  opinion  about  them. 
That  is  the  sort  of  discipline  we  ought  now  to  adminis 
ter  to  everybody  who  is  not  to  the  very  core  of  his 
heart  an  American.  Just  have  an  opinion  about  him  and 
let  him  experience  the  atmospheric  effects  of  that  opin 
ion  !  And  I  know  of  no  body  of  persons  comparable  to  a 
body  of  ladies  for  creating  an  atmosphere  of  opinion !  I 
have  myself  in  part  yielded  to  the  influences  of  that 
atmosphere,  though  it  took  me  a  long  time  to  deter 
mine  how  I  was  going  to  vote  in  New  Jersey. 

So  it  has  seemed  to  me  that  my  privilege  this  after- 


82  AMERICAN    PATRIOTISM 

noon  was  not  merely  a  privilege  of  courtesy,  but  thfe 
real  privilege  of  reminding  you — for  I  am  sure  I  am 
doing  nothing  more — of  the  great  principles  which 
we  stand  associated  to  promote.  I  for  my  part  rejoice 
that  we  belong  to  a  country  in  which  the  whole  busi 
ness  of  government  is  'so  difficult.  We  do  not  take 
orders  from  anybody;  it  is  a  universal  communica 
tion  of  conviction,  the  most  subtle,  delicate,  and  diffi 
cult  of  processes.  There  is  not  a  single  individual's 
opinion  that  is  not  of  some  consequence  in  making 
up  the  grand  total,  and  to  be  in  this  great  cooperative 
effort  is  the  most  stimulating  thing  in  the  world.  A 
man  standing  alone  may  well  misdoubt  his  own  judg 
ment.  He  may  mistrust  his  own  intellectual  processes, 
he  may  even  wonder  if  his  own  heart  leads  him  right 
in  matters  of  public  conduct;  but  if  he  finds  his  heart 
part  of  the  great  throb  of  a  national  life,  there  can  be 
no  doubt  about  it.  If  that  is  his  happy  circumstance, 
then  he  may  know  that  he  is  part  of  one  of  the  great 
forces  of  the  world. 

I  would  not  feel  any  exhilaration  in  belonging  to 
America  if  I  did  not  feel  that  she  was  something  more 
than  a  rich  and  powerful  nation.  I  should  not  feel 
proud  to  be  in  some  respects  and  for  a  little  while  her 
spokesman  if  I  did  not  believe  that  there  was  some 
thing  else  than  physical  force  behind  her.  I  believe 
that  the  glory  of  America  is  that  she  is  a  great  spiritual 
conception  and  that  in  the  spirit  of  her  institutions 
dwells  not  only  her  distinction  but  her  power.  The  one 
thing  that  the  world  can  not  permanently  resist  is  the 
moral  force  of  great  and  triumphant  convictions. 


THE  MEANING  OF  THE  FLAG 

The  following  address  on  the  Flag  was  delivered  by  President  Woodrow 
Wilson  from  the  south  portico  of  the  Treasury  Building,  Washington,  D.  C., 
June  14,  1915. 

MR.  SECRETARY,  FRIENDS,  AND  FELLOW  CITIZENS: — 
I  know  of  nothing  more  difficult  than  to  render  an 
adequate  tribute  to  the  emblem  of  our  nation.  For 
those  of  us  who  have  shared  that  nation's  life  and 
felt  the  beat  of  its  pulse  it  must  be  considered  a  matter 
of  impossibility  to  express  the  great  things  which  that 
emblem  embodies.  I  venture  to  say  that  a  great 
many  things  are  said  about  the  flag  which  very  few 
people  stop  to  analyze.  For  me  the  flag  does  not  ex 
press  a  mere  body  of  vague  sentiment.  The  flag  of  the 
United  States  has  not  been  created  by  rhetorical  sen 
tences  in  declarations  of  independence  and  in  bills  of 
rights.  It  has  been  created  by  the  experience  of  a 
great  people,  and  nothing  is  written  upon  it  that  has 
not  been  written  by  their  life.  It  is  the  embodiment, 
not  of  a  sentiment,  but  of  a  history,  and  no  man  can 
rightly  serve  under  that  flag  who  has  not  caught  some 
of  the  meaning  of  that  history. 

Experience,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  is  made  by  men 
and  women.  National  experience  is  the  product  of 
those  who  do  the  living  under  that  flag.  It  is  their 
living  that  has  created  its  significance.  You  do  not 
create  the  meaning  of  a  national  life  by  any  literary 
exposition  of  it,  but  by  the  actual  daily  endeavors  of  a 


84  AMERICAN    PATRIOTISM 

great  people  to  do  the  tasks  of  the  day  and  live  up  to 
the  ideals  of  honesty  and  righteousness  and  just  con 
duct.  And  as  we  think  of  these  things,  our  tribute  is 
to  those  men  who  have  created  this  experience.  Many 
of  them  are  known  by  name  to  all  the  world — states 
men,  soldiers,  merchants,  masters  of  industry,  men  of 
letters  and  of  thought  who  have  coined  our  hearts  into 
action  or  into  words.  Of  these  men  we  feel  that  they 
have  shown  us  the  way.  They  have  not  been  afraid 
to  go  before.  They  have  known  that  they  were  speak 
ing  the  thoughts  of  a  great  people  when  they  led  that 
great  people  along  the  paths  of  achievement.  There 
was  not  a  single  swashbuckler  among  them.  They 
were  men  of  sober,  quiet  thought,  the  more  effective 
because  there  was  no  bluster  in  it.  They  were  men  who 
thought  along  the  lines  of  duty,  not  along  the  lines  of 
self-aggrandizement.  They  were  men,  in  short,  who 
thought  of  the  people  whom  they  served  and  not  of 
themselves. 

But  while  we  think  of  these  men  and  do  honor  to 
them  as  to  those  who  have  shown  us  the  way,  let  us 
not  forget  that  the  real  experience  and  life  of  a  nation 
lies  with  the  great  multitude  of  unknown  men.  It 
lies  with  those  men  whose  names  are  never  in  the 
headlines  of  newspapers,  those  men  who  know  the  heat 
and  pain  and  desperate  loss  of  hope  that  sometimes 
comes  in  the  great  struggle  of  daily  life;  not  the  men 
who  stand  on  the  side  and  comment,  not  the  men  who 
merely  try  to  interpret  the  great  struggle,  but  the 
men  who  are  engaged  in  the  struggle.  They  consti 
tute  the  body  of  the  nation.  This  flag  is  the  essence 


THE    MEANING    OF    THE    FLAG  85 

• 

of  their  daily  endeavors.  This  flag  does  not  express 
any  more  than  what  they  are  and  what  they  desire 
to  be. 

As  I  think  of  the  life  of  this  great  nation  it  seems  to 
me  that  we  sometimes  look  to  the  wrong  places  for  its 
sources.  We  look  to  the  noisy  places,  where  men  are 
talking  in  the  market  place;  we  look  to  where  men  are 
expressing  their  individual  opinions;  we  look  to  where 
partisans  are  expressing  passions:  instead  of  trying 
to  attune  our  ears  to  that  voiceless  mass  of  men  who 
merely  go  about  their  daily  tasks,  try  to  be  honorable, 
try  to  serve  the  people  they  love,  try  to  live  worthy 
of  the  great  communities  to  which  they  belong.  These 
are  the  breath  of  the  nation's  nostrils;  these  are  the 
sinews  of  its  might. 

How  can  any  man  presume  to  interpret  the  emblem 
of  the  United  States,  the  emblem  of  what  we  would 
fain  be  among  the  family  of  nations,  and  find  it  incum 
bent  upon  us  to  be  in  the  daily  round  of  routine  duty? 
This  is  Flag  Day,  but  that  only  means  that  it  is  a  day 
when  we  are  to  recall  the  things  which  we  should  do 
every  day  of  our  lives.  There  are  no  days  of  special 
patriotism.  There  are  no  days  when  we  should  be 
more  patriotic  than  on  other  days.  We  celebrate  the 
Fourth  of  July  merely  because  the  great  enterprise  of 
liberty  was  started  on  the  fourth  of  July  in  America, 
but  the  great  enterprise  of  liberty  was  not  begun  in 
America.  It  is  illustrated  by  the  blood  of  thousands 
of  martyrs  who  lived  and  died  before  the  great  experi 
ment  on  this  side  of  the  water.  The  Fourth  of  July 
merely  marks  the  day  when  we  consecrated  ourselves 

AMERICA    FIRST — 6. 


86  AMERICAN     PATRIOTISM 

as  a  nation  to  this  high  thing  which  we  pretend  to 
serve.  The  benefit  of  a  day  like  this  is  merely  in  turn 
ing  away  from  the  things  that  distract  us,  turning 
away  from  the  things  that  touch  us  personally  and  ab 
sorb  our  interest  in  the  hours  of  daily  work.  We  re 
mind  ourselves  of  those  things  that  are  greater  than 
we  are,  of  those  principles  by  which  we  believe  our 
hearts  to  be  elevated,  of  the  more  difficult  things  that 
we  must  undertake  in  these  days  of  perplexity  when  a 
man's  judgment  is  safest  only  when  it  follows  the  line 
of  principle. 

I  am  solemnized  in  the  presence  of  such  a  day.  I 
would  not  undertake  to  speak  your  thoughts.  You 
must  interpret  them  for  me.  But  I  do  feel  that  back, 
not  only  of  every  public  official,  but  of  every  man  and 
woman  of  the  United  States,  there  marches  that  great 
host  which  has  brought  us  to  the  present  day;  the 
host  that  has  never  forgotten  the  vision  which  it  saw 
at  the  birth  of  the  nation;  the  host  which  always  re 
sponds  to  the  dictates  of  humanity  and  of  liberty;  the 
host  that  will  always  constitute  the  strength  and  the 
great  body  of  friends  of  every  man  who  does  his  duty 
to  the  United  States. 

I  am  sorry  that  you  do  not  wear  a  little  flag  of  the 
Union  every  day  instead  of  some  days.  I  can  only  ask 
you,  if  you  lose  the  physical  emblem,  to  be  sure  that 
you  wear  it  in  your  heart,  and  the  heart  of  America 
shall  interpret  the  heart  of  the  world. 


MAKERS  OF  THE  FLAG 

The  following  address  was  delivered  by  the  Honorable  Franklin  K.  Lane, 
Secretary  of  the  Interior,  before  the  officers  and  employees  of  this  Depart 
ment,  about  5,000  in  number,  at  the  Inner  Court,  Patent  Office  Building, 
June  14,  1914. 

This  morning,  as  I  passed  into  the  Land  Office,  The 
Flag  dropped  me  a  most  cordial  salutation,  and  from 
its  rippling  folds  I  heard  it  say:  "Good  morning,  Mr. 
Flag  Maker." 

"I  beg  your  pardon,  Old  Glory,"  I  said,  "aren't  you 
mistaken?  I  am  not  the  president  of  the  United  States, 
nor  a  member  of  Congress,  nor  even  a  general  in  the 
army.  I  am  only  a  government  clerk." 

"I  greet  you  again,  Mr.  Flag  Maker,"  replied  the  gay 
voice,  "I  know  you  well.  You  are  the  man  who  worked 
in  the  swelter  of  yesterday  straightening  out  the  tan 
gle  of  that  farmer's  homestead  in  Idaho,  or  perhaps 
you  found  the  mistake  in  that  Indian  contract  in  Okla 
homa,  or  helped  to  clear  that  patent  for  the  hopeful 
inventor  in  New  York,  or  pushed  the  opening  of  that 
new  ditch  in  Colorado,  or  made  that  mine  in  Illinois 
more  safe,  or  brought  relief  to  the  old  soldier  in  Wyo 
ming.  No  matter;  whichever  one  of  these  beneficent 
individuals  you  may  happen  to  be,  I  give  you  greeting, 
Mr.  Flag  Maker." 

I  was  about  to  pass  on,  when  The  Flag  stopped  me 
with  these  words : 

"Yesterday  the  president  spoke  a  word  that  made 
happier  the  future  of  ten  millions  peons  in  Mexico; 

87 


88  AMERICAN    PATRIOTISM 

but  that  act  looms  no  larger  on  the  flag  than  the  strug 
gle  which  the  boy  in  Georgia  is  making  to  win  the  Corn 
Club  prize  this  summer. 

"Yesterday  the  Congress  spoke  a  word  which  will 
open  the  door  of  Alaska;  but  a  mother  in  Michigan 
worked  from  sunrise  until  far  into  the  night,  to  give 
her  boy  an  education.  She,  too,  is  making  the  flag. 

"Yesterday  we  made  a  new  law  to  prevent  financial 
panics,  and  yesterday,  maybe,  a  school  teacher  in  Ohio 
taught  his  first  letters  to  a  boy  who  will  one  day  write 
a  song  that  will  give  cheer  to  the  millions  of  our  race. 
We  are  all  making  the  flag." 

"But,"  I  said  impatiently,  "these  people  were  only 
working." 

Then  came  a  great  shout  from  The  Flag: 

"THE  WORK  that  we  do  is  the  making  of  the  flag. 

"I  am  not  the  flag;  not  at  all.    I  am  but  its  shadow. 

"I  am  whatever  you  make  me,  nothing  more. 

"I  am  your  belief  in  yourself,  your  dream  of  what  a 
people  may  become. 

"I  live  a  changing  life,  a  life  of  moods  and  passions, 
of  heartbreaks  and  tired  muscles. 

"Sometimes  I  am  strong  with  pride,  when  men  do 
an  honest  work,  fitting  the  rails  together  truly. 

"Sometimes  I  droop,  for  then  purpose  has  gone  from 
me,  and  cynically  I  play  the  coward. 

"Sometimes  I  am  loud,  garish  and  full  of  that  ego 
that  blasts  judgment. 

"But  always  I  am  all  that  you  hope  to  be,  and  have 
the  courage  to  try  for. 


MAKERS    OF    THE    FLAG  89 

"I  am  song  and  fear,  struggle  and  panic,  and  en 
nobling  hope. 

"I  am  the  day's  work  of  the  weakest  man,  and  the 
largest  dream  of  the  most  daring. 

"I  am  the  Constitution  and  the  courts,  statutes  and 
the  statute  makers,  soldier  and  dreadnaught,  drayman 
and  street  sweep,  cook,  counselor,  and  clerk. 

"I  am  the  battle  of  yesterday,  and  the  mistake  of  to 
morrow. 

"I  am  the  mystery  of  the  men  who  do  without  know 
ing  why. 

"I  am  the  clutch  of  an  idea,  and  the  reasoned  pur 
pose  of  resolution. 

"I  am  no  more  than  what  you  believe  me  to  be  and  I 
am  all  that  you  believe  I  can  be. 

"I  am  what  you  make  me,  nothing  more. 

"I  swing  before  your  eyes  as  a  bright  gleam  of  color, 
a  symbol  of  yourself,  the  pictured  suggestion  of  that 
big  thing  which  makes  this  Nation.  My  stars  and 
my  stripes  are  your  dream  and  your  labors.  They 
are  bright  with  cheer,  brilliant  with  courage,  firm  with 
faith,  because  you  have  made  them  so  out  of  your 
hearts.  For  you  are  the  makers  of  the  flag  and  it  is 
well  that  you  glory  in  the  making." 


THE  FLAG  OF  THE  UNION  FOREVER 

Speech  of  General  Fitzhugh  Lee  at  a  dinner  given  by  the  Friendly  Sons 
of  St.  Patrick  and  the  Hibernian  Society  of  Philadelphia,  at  the  city  of 
Philadelphia,  September  17,  1887.  The  occasion  of  the  dinner  was  the  one 
hundredth  anniversary  of  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States.  General  Lee,  then  governor  of  Virginia,  was  the  guest  of  Governor 
Beaver  at  the  dinner.  The  Chairman,  Hon.  Andrew  G.  Curtin  [Pennsyl 
vania's  war  governor],  in  introducing  General  Lee  said:  "We  have  here  to 
day  a  gentleman  whom  I  am  glad  to  call  my  friend,  though  during  the  war 
he  was  in  dangerous  and  unpleasant  proximity  to  me.  He  once  threatened 
the  capital  of  this  great  state.  I  did  not  wish  him  to  come  in,  and  was  very 
glad  when  he  went  away.  He  was  then  my  enemy  and  I  was  his.  But, 
thank  God,  that  is  past;  and  in  the  enjoyment  of  the  rights  and  interests 
common  to  all  as  American  citizens,  I  am  his  friend  and  he  is  my  friend.  1 
introduce  to  you,  Governor  Fitzhugh  Lee."  • 

MR.  CHAIRMAN  AND  GENTLEMEN  OF  THE  HIBER 
NIAN  SOCIETY: — I  am  very  glad,  indeed,  to  have  the 
honor  of  being  present  in  this  society  once  more;  as 
it  was  my  good  fortune  to  enjoy  a  niost  pleasant  visit 
here  and  an  acquaintance  with  the  members  of  your 
society  last  year.  My  engagements  were  such  to-day 
that  I  could  not  get  here  earlier;  and  just  as  I  was 
coming  in  Governor  Beaver  was  making  his  excuses 
because,  as  he  said,  he  had  to  go  to  pick  up  a  visitor 
whom  he  was  to  escort  to  the  entertainment  to  be 
given  this  evening  at  the  Academy  of  Music.  I  am  the 
visitor  whom  Governor  Beaver  is  looking  for.  He  could 
not  capture  me  during  the  war,  but  he  has  captured 
me  now.  I  am  a  Virginian  and  used  to  ride  a  pretty 
fast  horse,  and  he  could  not  get  close  enough  to  me. 

By  the  way,  you  have  all  heard  of  "George  Wash- 

90 


THE  FLAG  OF  THE  UNION  FOREVER       91 

ington  and  his  little  hatchet."  The  other  day  I  heard 
a  story  that  was  a  little  variation  upon  the  original, 
and  I  am  going  to  take  up  your  timejor  a  minute  by 
repeating  it  to  you. 

It  was  to  this  effect:  Old  Mr.  Washington  and 
Mrs.  Washington,  the  parents  of  George,  found  on 
one  occasion  that  their  supply  of  soap  for  the  use  of 
the  family  at  Westmoreland  had  been  exhausted, 
and  so  they  decided  to  make  some  family  soap.  They 
made  the  necessary  arrangements  and  gave  the 
requisite  instructions  to  the  family  servant.  After 
an  hour  or  so  the  servant  returned  and  reported  to 
them  that  he  could  not  make  that  soap.  "Why 
not,"  he  was  asked,  "haven't  you  all  the  materials?" 
"Yes,"  he  replied,  "but  there  is  something  wrong." 
The  old  folks  proceeded  to  investigate,  and  they 
found  they  had  actually  got  the  ashes  of  the  little 
cherry  tree  that  George  had  cut  down  with  his  hatchet, 
and  there  was  no  lye  in  it. 

Now,  I  assure  you,  there  is  no  "lie"  in  what  I  say  to 
you  this  afternoon,  and  that  is,  that  I  thank  God  for  the 
sun  of  the  Union  which,  once  obscured,  is  now  again  in 
the  full  stage  of  its  glory;  and  that  its  light  is  shining 
over  Virginia  as  well  as  over  the  rest  of  this  country. 
We  have  had  our  differences.  I  do  not  see,  upon  read 
ing  history,  how  they  could  well  have  been  avoided, 
because  they  resulted  from  different  constructions  of 
the  Constitution,  which  was  .the  helm  of  the  ship  of 
the  republic.  Virginia  construed  it  one  way.  Penn 
sylvania  construed  it  in  another,  and  they  could  not 
settle  their  differences;  so  they  went  to  war,  and 


92  AMERICAN    PATRIOTISM 

Pennsylvania,  I  think,  probably  got  a  little  the  best 
of  it. 

The  sword,  at  any  rate,  settled  the  controversy.  But 
that  is  behind  us.  We  have  now  a  great  and  glorious 
future  in  front  of  us,  and  it  is  Virginia's  duty  to  do  all 
that  she  can  to  promote  the  honor  and  glory  of  this 
country.  We  fought  to  the  best  of  our  ability  for  four 
years;  and  it  would  be  a  great  mistake  to  assume  that 
you  could  bring  men  from  their  cabins,  from  their 
plows,  from  their  houses,  and  from  their  families  to 
make  them  fight  as  they  fought  in  that  contest  unless 
they  were  fighting  for  a  belief.  Those  men  believed 
that  they  had  the  right  construction  of  the  Constitu 
tion,  and  that  a  state  that  voluntarily  entered  the 
Union  could  voluntarily  withdraw  from  it.  They  did 
not  fight  for  Confederate  money.  It  was  not  worth 
ten  cents  a  yard.  They  did  not  fight  for  Confederate 
rations — you  would  have  had  to  curtail  the  demands 
of  your  appetite  to  make  it  correspond  with  the  size 
and  quality  of  those  rations.  They  fought  for  what 
they  thought  was  a  proper  construction  of  the  Con 
stitution. 

They  were  defeated.  They  acknowledged  their 
defeat.  They  came  back  to  their  father's  house, 
and  there  they  are  going  to  stay.  But  if  we  are  to 
continue  prosperous,  if  this  country,  stretching  from 
the  gulf  to  the  lakes  and  from  ocean  to  ocean,  is  to  be 
mindful  of  its  own  best  interests,  in  the  future,  we  will 
have  to  make  concessions  and  compliances,  we  will 
have  to  bear  with  each  other  and  to  respect  each  other's 
opinions.  Then  we  will  find  that  that  harmony  will  be 


THE  FLAG  OF  THE  UNION  FOREVER       93 

secured  which  is  as  necessary  for  the  welfare  of  states, 
as  it  is  for  the  welfare  of  individuals. 

I  have  become  acquainted  with  Governor  Beaver— 
I  met  him  in  Richmond.  You  could  not  make  me  fight 
him  now.  If  I  had  known  him  before  the  war,  per 
haps  we  would  not  have  -got  at  it.  If  all  the  Govern 
ors  had  known  each  other,  and  if  all  the  people  of  dif 
ferent  sections  had  been  known  to  each  other,  or  had 
been  thrown  together  in  business  or  social  communi 
cation,  the  fact  would  have  been  recognized  at  the 
outset,  as  it  is  to-day,  that  there  are  just  as  good  men 
in  Maine  as  there  are  in  Texas,  and  just  as  good  men 
in  Texas  as  there  are  in  Maine.  Human  nature  is 
everywhere  the  same;  and  when  intestine  strifes  oc 
cur,  we  will  doubtless  always  be  able  by  a  conservative, 
pacific  course  to  pass  smoothly  over  the  rugged,  rocky 
edges,  and  the  old  Ship  of  State  will  be  brought  into  a 
safe,  commodious,  Constitutional  harbor  with  the  flag 
of  the  Union  flying  over  her,  and  there  it  will  remain. 


FROM  WASHINGTON'S  FAREWELL  ADDRESS 

The  appeal  for  a  perpetual  union  and  obedience  to  established  law,  the 
warning  against  the  evils  of  partisan  politics  and  against  the  dangers  of  en 
tangling  foreign  alliance  made  by  Washington  in  this  immortal  address  were 
never  more  important  than  at  the  present  time.  They  will  become  more 
important  for  each  succeeding  generation.  Let  those  who  would  know 
America's  mission  make  a  careful  study  of  this  the  greatest  of  state  papers. 

The  unity,  of  government  which  constitutes  you  one 
people  is  also  now  dear  to  you.  It  is  justly  so,  for  it  is 
a  main  pillar  in  the  edifice  of  your  real  independence, 
the  support  of  your  tranquillity  at  home,  your  peace 
abroad,  of  your  safety,  of  your  prosperity,  of  that  very 
liberty  which  you  so  highly  prize.  But  as  it  is  easy  to 
foresee  that  from  different  causes  and  from  different 
quarters  much  pains  will  be  taken,  many  artifices  em 
ployed,  to  weaken  in  your  minds  the  conviction  of  this 
truth,  as  this  is  the  point  in  your  political  fortress 
against  which  the  batteries  of  internal  and  external 
enemies  will  be  most  constantly  and  actively  (though 
often  covertly  and  insidiously)  directed,  it  is  of  in 
finite  moment  that  you  should  properly  estimate  the 
immense  value  of  your  national  union  to  your  collec 
tive  and  individual  happiness;  that  you  should  cher 
ish  a  cordial,  habitual,  and  immovable  attachment 
to  it;  accustoming  yourselves  to  think  and  speak  of 
it  as  of  the  palladium  of  your  political  safety  and 
prosperity;  watching  for  its  preservation  with  jeal 
ous  anxiety;  discountenancing  whatever  may  suggest 
even  a  suspicion  that  it  can  in  any  event  be  abandoned, 

94 


WASHINGTON'S  FAREWELL  ADDRESS  95 

and  indignantly  frowning  upon  the  first  dawning  of 
every  attempt  to  alienate  any  portion  of  our  country 
from  the  rest  or  to  enfeeble  the  sacred  ties  which  now 
link  together  the  various  parts. 

For  this  you  have  every  inducement  of  sympathy 
and  interest.  Citizens  by  birth  or  choice  of  a  common 
country,  that  country  has  a  right  to  concentrate  your 
affections.  The  name  of  American,  which  belongs  to 
you  in  your  national  capacity,  must  always  exalt  the 
just  pride  of  patriotism  more  than  any  appellation 
derived  from  local  discriminations.  With  slight  shades 
of  difference,  you  have  the  same  religion,  manners, 
habits,  and  political  principles.  You  have  in  a  com 
mon  cause  fought  and  triumphed  together.  The  in 
dependence  and  liberty  you  possess  are  the  work  of 
joint  councils  and  joint  efforts,  of  common  dangers, 
sufferings,  and  successes. 

But  these  considerations,  however  powerfully  they 
address  themselves  to  your  sensibility,  are  greatly  out 
weighed  by  those  which  apply  more  immediately  to 
your  interest.  Here  every  portion  of  our  country  finds 
the  most  commanding  motives  for  carefully  guarding 
and  preserving  the  union  of  the  whole. 

The  North,  in  an  unrestrained  intercourse  with  the 
South,  protected  by  the  equal  laws  of  a  common  govern 
ment,  finds  in  the  productions  of  the  latter  great  addi 
tional  resources  of  maritime  and  commercial  enter 
prise  and  precious  materials  of  manufacturing  indus 
try.  The  South,  in  the  same  intercourse,  benefiting 
by  the  same  agency  of  the  North,  sees  its  agriculture 
grow  and  its  commerce  expand.  Turning  partly  into 


96  AMERICAN    PATRIOTISM 

its  own  channels  the  seamen  of  the  North,  it  finds  its 
particular  navigation  invigorated;  and  while  it  con 
tributes  in  different  ways  to  nourish  and  increase  the 
general  mass  of  the  national  navigation,  it  looks  for 
ward  to  the  protection  of  a  maritime  strength  to  which 
itself  is  unequally  adapted.  The  East,  in  a  like  inter 
course  with  the  West,  already  finds,  and  in  the  pro 
gressive  improvement  of  interior  communications  by 
land  and  water  will  more  and  more  find,  a  valuable 
vent  for  the  commodities  which  it  brings  from  abroad 
or  manufactures  at  home.  The  West  derives  from  the 
East  supplies  requisite  to  its  growth  and  comfort,  and 
what  is  perhaps  of  still  greater  consequence,  it  must 
of  necessity  owe  the  secure  enjoyment  of  indispensable 
outlets  for  its  own  productions  to  the  weight,  influence, 
and  the  future  maritime  strength  of  the  Atlantic  side 
of  the  Union,  directed  by  an  indissoluble  community 
of  interest  as  one  nation.  Any  other  tenure  by  which 
the  West  can  hold  this  essential  advantage,  whether 
derived  from  its  own  separate  strength  or  from  an 
apostate  and  unnatural  connection  with  any  foreign 
power,  must  be  intrinsically  precarious. 

While,  then,  every  part  of  our  country  thus  feels  an 
immediate  and  particular  interest  in  union,  all  the  parts 
combined  cannot  fail  to  find  in  the  united  mass  of 
means  and  efforts  greater  strength,  greater  resource, 
proportionably  greater  security  from  external  danger, 
a  less  frequent  interruption  of  their  peace  by  foreign 
nations,  and  what  is  of  inestimable  value,  they  must 
derive  from  union  an  exemption  from  those  broils 
and  wars  between  themselves  which  so  frequently 


WASHINGTON'S   FAREWELL  ADDRESS  97 

afflict  neighboring  countries  not  tied  together  by  the 
same  governments,  which  their  own  rivalships  alone 
would  be  sufficient  to  produce,  but  which  opposite 
foreign  alliances,  attachments,  and  intrigues  would 
stimulate  and  embitter.  Hence,  likewise,  they  will 
avoid  the  necessity  of  those  overgrown  military  es 
tablishments  which,  under  any  form  of  government, 
are  inauspicious  to  liberty,  and  which  are  to  be  re 
garded  as  particularly  hostile  to  republican  liberty. 
In  this  sense  it  is  that  your  union  ought  to  be  consid 
ered  as  a  main  prop  of  your  liberty,  and  that  the  love 
of  the  one  ought  to  endear  to  you  the  preservation  of 
the  other. 

These  considerations  speak  a  persuasive  language  to 
every  reflecting  and  virtuous  mind,  and  exhibit  the 
continuance  of  the  union  as  a  primary  object  of  patri 
otic  desire.  Is  there  a  doubt  whether  a  common  gov 
ernment  can  embrace  so  large  a  sphere?  Let  ex 
perience  solve  it.  To  listen  to  mere  speculation  in 
such  a  case  were  criminal.  We  are  authorized  to  hope 
that  a  proper  organization  of  the  whole,  with  the 
auxiliary  agency  of  governments  for  the  respective 
subdivisions,  will  afford  a  happy  issue  to  the  experi 
ment.  It  is  well  worth  a  fair  and  full  experiment. 
With  such  powerful  and  obvious  motives  to  union  af 
fecting  all  parts  of  our  country,  while  experience  shall 
not  have  demonstrated  its  impracticability,  there  will 
always  be  reason  to  distrust  the  patriotism  of  those 
who  in  any  quarter  may  endeavor  to  weaken  its  bands., 

To  the  efficacy  and  permanency  of  your  union  a 


98  AMERICAN    PATRIOTISM 

government  for  the  whole  is  indispensable.  No  alli 
ances,  however  strict,  between  the  parts  can  be  an 
adequate  substitute.  They  must  inevitably  experience 
the  infractions  and  interruptions  which  all  alliances 
in  all  times  have  experienced.  Sensible  of  this  moment 
ous  truth,  you  have  improved  upon  your  first  essay  by 
the  adoption  of  a  constitution  of  government  better 
calculated  than  your  former  for  an  intimate  union  and 
for  the  efficacious  management  of  your  common  con 
cerns.  This  government,  the  offspring  of  our  own 
choice,  uninfluenced  and  unawed,  adopted  upon  full 
investigation  and  mature  deliberation,  completely 
free  in  its  principles,  in  the  distribution  of  its  powers, 
uniting  security  with  energy,  and  containing  within 
itself  a  provision  for  its  own  amendment,  has  a  just 
claim  to  your  confidence  and  your  support.  Respect 
for  its  authority,  compliance  with  its  laws,  acquiescence 
in  its  measures,  are  duties  enjoined  by  the  fundamental 
maxims  of  true  liberty.  The  basis  of  our  political 
systems  is  the  right  of  the  people  to  make  and  to 
alter  their  constitutions  of  government.  But  the 
constitution  which  at  any  time  exists  till  changed  by 
an  explicit  and  authentic  act  of  the  whole  people  is 
sacredly  obligatory  upon  all.  The  very  idea  of  the 
power  and  the  right  of  the  people  to  establish  govern 
ment  presupposes  the  duty  of  every  individual  to 
obey  the  established  government. 

All  obstructions  to  the  execution  of  the  laws,  all 
combinations  and  associations,  under  whatever  plausi 
ble  character,  with  the  real  design  to  direct,  control, 
counteract,  or  awe  the  regular  deliberation  and  action 


WASHINGTON'S   FAREWELL  ADDRESS  99 

of  the  constituted  authorities,  are  destructive  of  this 
fundamental  principle  and  of  fatal  tendency.  They 
serve  to  organize  faction;  to  give  it  an  artificial  and 
extraordinary  force;  to  put  in  the  place  of  the  dele 
gated  will  of  the  nation  the  will  of  a  party,  often  a 
small  but  artful  and  enterprising  minority  of  the  com 
munity,  and,  according  to  the  alternate  triumphs  of 
different  parties,  to  make  the  public  administration 
the  mirror  of  the  ill-concerted  and  incongruous  pro 
jects  of  faction  rather  than  the  organ  of  consistent  and 
wholesome  plans,  digested  by  common  counsels  and 
modified  by  mutual  interests. 

However  combinations'  or  associations  of  the  above 
description  may  now  and  then  answer  popular  ends, 
they  are  likely  in  the  course  of  time  and  things  to  be 
come  potent  engines  by  which  cunning,  ambitious,  and 
unprincipled  men  will  be  enabled  to  subvert  the  power 
of  the  people,  and  to  usurp  for  themselves  the  reins  of 
government,  destroying  afterwards  the  very  engines 
which  have  lifted  them  to  unjust  dominion. 

Observe  'good  faith  and  justice  toward  all  nations. 
Cultivate  peace  and  harmony  with  all.  Religion  and 
morality  enjoin  this  conduct.  And  can  it  be  that  good 
policy  does  not  equally  enjoin  it?  It  will  be  worthy 
of  a  free,  enlightened,  and  at  no  distant  period  a  great 
nation  to  give  to  mankind  the  magnanimous  and  too 
novel  example  of  a  people  always  guided  by  an  exalted 
justice  and  benevolence.  Who  can  doubt  that  in  the 
course  of  time  and  things  the  fruits  of  such  a  plan 
would  richly  repay  any  temporary  advantages  which 


100  AMERICAN    PATRIOTISM 

might  be  lost  by  a  steady  adherence  to  it?  Can  it  be 
that  Providence  has  not  connected  the  permanent 
felicity  of  a  nation  with  its  virtue?  The  experiment, 
at  least,  is  recommended  by  every  sentiment  which 
ennobles  human  nature.  Alas!  is  it  rendered  impos 
sible  by  its  vices? 

In  the  execution  of  such  a  plan  nothing  is  more 
essential  than  that  permanent,  inveterate  antipathies 
against  particular  nations  and  passionate  attach 
ments  for  others  should  be  excluded,  and  that  in  place 
of  them  just  and  amicable  feelings  toward  all  should 
be  cultivated.  The  nation  which  indulges  toward 
another  an  habitual  hatred  or  an  habitual  fondness 
is  in  some  degree  a  slave.  It  is  a  slave  to  its  animosity 
or  to  its  affection,  either  of  which  is  sufficient  to  lead 
it  astray  from  its  duty  and  its  interest.  Antipathy  in 
one  nation  against  another  disposes  each  more  readily 
to  offer  insult  and  injury,  to  lay  hold  of  slight  causes 
of  umbrage,  and  to  be  haughty  and  intractable  when 
accidental  or  trifling  occasions  of  dispute  occur. 

Hence  frequent  collisions,  obstinate,  envenomed, 
and  bloody  contests.  The  nation  prompted  by  ill  will 
and  resentment  sometimes  impels  to  war  the  govern 
ment  contrary  to  the  best  calculations  of  policy.  The 
government  sometimes  participates  in  the  national 
propensity,  and  adopts  through  passion  what  reason 
would  reject.  At  other  times  it  makes  the  animosity 
of  the  nation  subservient  to  projects  of  hostility,  in 
stigated  by  pride,  ambition,  and  other  sinister  and 
pernicious  motives.  The  peace  often,  sometimes  per 
haps  the  liberty,  of  nations  has  been  the  victim. 


WASHINGTON'S   FAR^V/SDL  \ADDRESS  101 

So,  likewise,  a  passionate  a teachmeiit  ofc  oiise1  nation 
for  another  produces  a  variety  of  evils.  Sympathy 
for  the  favorite  nation,  facilitating  the  illusion  of  an 
imaginary  common  interest  in  cases  where  no  real 
common  interest  exists,  and  infusing  into  one  the 
enmities  of  the  other,  betrays  the  former  into  a  partici 
pation  in  the  quarrels  and  wars  of  the  latter  without 
adequate  inducement  or  justification.  It  leads  also  to 
concessions  to  the  favorite  nation  of  privileges  denied 
to  others,  which  is  apt  doubly  to  injure  the  nation 
making  the  concessions  by  unnecessarily  parting  with 
what  ought  to  have  been  retained,  and  by  exciting 
jealousy,  ill  will,  and  a  disposition  to  retaliate  in  the 
parties  from  whom  equal  privileges  are  withheld; 
and  it  gives  to  ambitious,  corrupted,  or  deluded  citi 
zens  (who  devote  themselves  to  the  favorite  nation) 
facility  to  betray  or  sacrifice  the  interests  of  their  own 
country  without  odium,  sometimes  even  with  popu 
larity,  gilding  with  the  appearances  of  a  virtuous 
sense  of  obligation,  a  commendable  deference  for  pub 
lic  opinion,  or  a  laudable  zeal  for  public  good  the  base 
or  foolish  compliances  of  ambition,  corruption,  or 
infatuation. 

As  avenues  to  foreign  influence  in  innumerable 
ways,  such  attachments  are  particularly  alarming  to 
the  truly  enlightened  and  independent  patriot.  How 
many  opportunities  do  they  afford  to  tamper  with 
domestic  factions,  to  practice  the  arts  of  seduction, 
to  mislead  public  opinion,  to  influence  or  awe  the  pub 
lic  councils!  Such  an  attachment  of  a  small  or  weak 
toward  a  great  and  powerful  nation  dooms  the  former 

AMERICA    FIRST 7. 


102  AMEflJCAtf    PATRIOTISM 

to  be  the  'satellite  of-  tiie  latter.  Against  the  insidious 
wiles  of  foreign  influence  (I  conjure  you  to  believe  me, 
fellow  citizens)  the  jealousy  of  a  free  people  ought  to 
be  constantly  awake,  since  history  and  experience  prove 
that  foreign  influence  is  one  of  the  most  baneful  foes 
of  republican  government.  But  that  jealousy,  to  be 
useful,  must  be  impartial,  else  it  becomes  the  instru 
ment  of  the  very  influence  to  be  avoided,  instead  of  a 
defense  against  it.  Excessive  partiality  for  one  foreign 
nation  and.  excessive  dislike  of  another  cause  those 
whom  they  actuate  to  see  danger  only  on  one  side,  and 
serve  to  veil  and  even  second  the  arts  of  influence  on 
the  other.  Real  patriots  who  may  resist  the  intrigues 
of  the  favorite  are  liable  to  become  suspected  and 
odious,  while  its  tools  and  dupes  usurp  the  applause 
and  confidence  of  the  people  to  surrender  their  interests. 

The  great  rule  of  conduct  for  us  in  regard  to  foreign 
nations  is,  in  extending  our  commercial  relations  to 
have  with  them  as  little  political  connection  as  possi 
ble.  So  far  as  we  have  already  formed  engagements 
let  them  be  fulfilled  with  perfect  good  faith.  Here 
let  us  stop. 

Europe  has  a  set  of  primary  interests  which  to  us 
have  none  or  a  very  remote  relation.  Hence  she  must 
be  engaged  in  frequent  controversies,  the  causes  of 
which  are  essentially  foreign  to  our  concerns.  Hence, 
therefore,  it  must  be  unwise  in  us  to  implicate  our 
selves  by  artificial  ties  in  the  ordinary  vicissitudes  of 
her  politics  or  the  ordinary  combinations  and  collisions 
of  her  friendships  or  enmities. 

Our  detached  and  distant  situation  invites  and  en- 


WASHINGTON'S  FAREWELL  ADDRESS  103 

ables  us  to  pursue  a  different  course.  If  we  remain  one 
people,  under  an  efficient  government,  the  period  is 
not  far  off  when  we  may  defy  material  injury  from 
external  annoyance;  when  we  may  take  such  an 
attitude  as  will  cause  the  neutrality  we  may  at  any 
time  resolve  upon  to  be  scrupulously  respected;  when 
belligerent  nations,  under  the  impossibility  of  making 
acquisitions  upon  us,  will  not  lightly  hazard  the  giv 
ing  us  provocation;  when  we  may  choose  peace  or 
war,  as  our  interest,  guided  by  justice,  shall  counsel. 

Why  forego  the  advantages  of  so  peculiar  a  situa 
tion?  Why  quit  our  own  to  stand  upon  foreign  ground? 
Why,  by  interweaving  our  destiny  with  that  of  any 
part  of  Europe,  entangle  our  peace  and  prosperity  in 
the  toils  of  European  ambition,  rivalship,  interest, 
humor,  or  caprice? 


WASHINGTON 

Address  by  John  W.  Daniel,  lawyer,  statesman,  United  States  senator 
from  Virginia,  delivered  in  the  hall  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  Wash 
ington,  D.  C.,  at  the  dedication  of  the  Washington  National  Monument, 
February  21,  1885,  Mr.  Daniel  being  then  a  member  of  the  House  from  Vir 
ginia.  He  was  introduced  by  Senator  George  F.  Edmunds,  of  Vermont, 
president  pro  tempore  of  the  Senate,  who  occupied  the  speaker's  chair,  and 
presided  at  the  dedicatory  exercises. 

MR.  PRESIDENT  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES,  SENATORS, 
REPRESENTATIVES,  JUDGES,  MR.  CHAIRMAN,  AND  MY 
COUNTRYMEN: — Alone  in  its  grandeur  stands  forth  the 
character  of  Washington  in  history;  alone  like  some 
peak  that  has  no  fellow  in  the  mountain  range  of 
greatness. 

"Washington,"  says  Guizot,  "Washington  did  the 
two  greatest  things  which  in  politics  it  is  permitted 
to  man  to  attempt.  He  maintained  by  peace  the  in 
dependence  of  his  country,  which  he  had  conquered 
by  war.  He  founded  a  free  government  in  the  name  of 
principles  of  order  and  by  re-establishing  their  sway." 

Washington  did  indeed  do  these  things.  But  he  did 
more.  Out  of  disconnected  fragments  he  molded  a 
whole  and  made  it  a  country.  He  achieved  his  coun 
try's  independence  by  the  sword.  He  maintained  that 
independence  by  peace  as  by  war.  He  finally  estab 
lished  both  his  country  and  its  freedom  in  an  endur 
ing  frame  of  constitutional  government,  fashioned  to 
make  Liberty  and  Union  one  and  inseparable.  These 
four  things  together  constitute  the  unexampled  achieve 
ment  of  Washington. 

104 


WASHINGTON  105 

The  world  has  ratified  the  profound  remark  of  Fisher 
Ames,  that  "he  changed  mankind's  ideas  of  political 
greatness."  It  has  approved  the  opinion  of  Edward 
Everett,  that  he  was  "the  greatest  of  good  men  and 
the  best  of  great  men."  It  has  felt  for  him,  with 
Erskine,  "an  awful  reverence."  It  has  attested  the 
declaration  of  Brougham,  that  "he  was  the  greatest 
man  of  his  own  or  of  any  age."  It  is  matter  of  fact 
to-day,  as  when  General  Hamilton,  announcing  his 
death  to  the  army,  said, "The  voice  of  praise  would  in 
vain  endeavor  to  exalt  a  name  unrivaled  in  the  lists 
of  true  glory."  America  still  proclaims  him,  as  did 
Colonel  Henry  Lee,  on  the  floor  of  the  House  of  Repre 
sentatives,  the  man  "first  in  war,  first  in  peace,  and 
first  in  the  hearts  of  his  countrymen."  And  from  be 
yond  the  sea  the  voice  of  Alfieri,  breathing  the  soul 
of  all  lands  and  peoples,  still  pronounces  the  blessing, 
"Happy  are  you  who  have  for  the  sublime  and  per 
manent  basis  of  your  glory  the  love  of  country  demon 
strated  by  deeds." 

Ye  who  have  unrolled  the  scrolls  that  tell  the  tale 
of  the  rise  and  fall  of  nations,  before  whose  eyes  has 
moved  the  panorama  of  man's  struggles,  achievements, 
and  progression,  find  you  anywhere  the  story  of  one 
whose  life  work  is  more  than  a  fragment  of  that  which 
in  his  life  is  set  before  you?  Conquerors,  who  have 
stretched  your  scepters  over  boundless  territories; 
founders  of  empire,  who  have  held  your  dominions  in 
reign  of  law;  reformers,  who  have  cried  aloud  in  the 
wilderness  of  oppression;  teachers,  who  have  striven 
with  reason  to  cast  down  false  doctrine,  heresy  and 


106  AMERICAN    PATRIOTISM 

schism;  statesmen,  whose  brains  have  throbbed  with 
mighty  plans  for  the  amelioration  of  human  society; 
scar-crowned  Vikings  of  the  sea,  illustrious  heroes  of 
the  land,  who  have  borne  the  standards  of  siege  and 
battle — come  forth  in  bright  array  from  your  glorious 
fanes — and  would  ye  be  measured  by  the  measure  of 
his  stature?  Behold  you  not  in  him  a  more  illustrious 
and  more  venerable  presence? 

Statesman,  Soldier,  Patriot,  Sage,  Reformer  of 
Creeds,  Teacher  of  Truth  and  Justice,  Achiever  and 
Preserver  of  Liberty — the  First  of  Men — Founder 
and  Savior  of  his  Country,  Father  of  his  People— this 
is  HE,  solitary  and  unapproachable  in  his  grandeur. 
Oh!  felicitous  Providence  that  gave  to  America  OUR 
WASHINGTON! 

High  soars  into  the  sky  to-day — higher  than  the 
Pyramids  or  the  dome  of  St.  Paul's  or  St.  Peter's — the 
loftiest  and  most  imposing  structure  that  man  has 
ever  reared — high  soars  into  the  sky  to  where 

"Earth  highest  yearns  to  meet  a  star," 

the  monument  which  "We  the  people  of  the  United 
States"  have  erected  to  his  memory.  It  is  a  fitting 
monument,  more  fitting  than  any  statue.  For  his 
image  could  only  display  him  in  some  one  phase  of  his 
varied  character — as  the  Commander,  the  Statesman, 
the  Planter  of  Mount  Vernon,  or  the  Chief  Magis 
trate  of  his  Country.  So  art  has  fitly  typified  his  ex 
alted  life  in  yon  plain  lofty  shaft.  Such  is  his  greatness, 
that  only  by  a  symbol  could  it  be  represented.  As 
Justice  must  be  blind  in  order  to  be  whole  in  contem 
plation,  so  History  must  be  silent,  that  by  this  mighty 


WASHINGTON  107 

sign  she  may  unfold  the  amplitude  of  her  story. 

In  1657,  while  yet  "a  Cromwell  filled  the  Stuarts' 
throne,'*  there  came  to  Virginia  with  a  party  of  Carlists 
who  had  rebelled  against  him  John  Washington,  of 
Yorkshire,  England,  who  became  a  magistrate  and 
member  of  the  House  of  Burgesses,  and  distinguished 
himself  in  Indian  warfare  as  the  first  colonel  of  his 
family  on  this  side  of  the  water.  He  was  the  nephew 
of  that  Sir  Henry  Washington  who  had  led  the  for 
lorn  hope  of  Prince  Rupert  at  Bristol  in  1643,  and  who, 
with  a  starving  and  mutinous  garrison,  had  defended 
Worcester  in  1649,  answering  all  calls  for  surrender 
that  he  "awaited  His  Majesty's  commands." 

And  his  progenitors  had  for  centuries,  running  back 
to  the  conquest,  been  men  of  mark  and  fair  renown. 
Pride  and  modesty  of  individuality  alike  forbid  the 
seeking  from  any  source  of  a  borrowed  lustre,  and  the 
Washingtons  were  never  studious  or  pretentious  of 
ancestral  dignities.  But  "we  are  quotations  from  our 
ancestors,"  says  the  philosopher  of  Concord — and  who 
will  say  that  in  the  loyalty  to  conscience  and  to  princi 
ple,  and  to  the  right  of  self-determination  of  what  is 
principle,  that  the  Washingtons  have  ever  shown, 
whether  as  loyalist  or  rebel,  was  not  the  germ  of  that 
deathless  devotion  to  liberty  and  country  which  soon 
discarded  all  ancient  forms  in  the  mighty  stroke  for 
independence? 

One  hundred  and  fifty-three  years  ago,  on  the  banks 
of  the  Potomac,  in  the  county  of  Westmoreland,  on  a 
spot  marked  now  only  by  a  memorial  stone,  of  the  blood 
of  the  people  whom  I  have  faintly  described,  fourth  in 


108  AMERICAN    PATRIOTISM 

descent  from  the  Colonel  John  Washington  whom  I 
have  named,  there  was  born  a  son  to  Augustine  and 
Mary  Washington.  And  not  many  miles  above  his 
birthplace  is  the  dwelling  where  he  lived,  and  near 
which  he  now  lies  buried. 

Borne  upon  the  bosom  of  that  river  which  here  mir 
rors  Capitol  dome  and  monumental  shaft  in  its  sea 
ward  flow,  the  river  itself  seems  to  reverse  its  current 
and  bear  us  silently  into  the  past.  Scarce  has  the  vista 
of  the  city  faded  from  our  gaze  when  we  behold  on  the 
woodland  height  that  swells  above  the  waters — amidst 
walks  and  groves  and  gardens — the  white  porch  of  that 
old  colonial  plantation  home  which  has  become  the 
shrine  of  many  a  pilgrimage.  Contrasting  it  as  there 
it  stands  to-day  with  the  marble  halls  which  we  have 
left  behind  us,  we  realize  the  truth  of  Emerson:  "The 
atmosphere  of  moral  sentiment  is  a  region  of  grandeur 
which  reduces  all  material  magnificence  to  toys,  yet 
opens  to  every  wretch  that  has  reason  the  doors  of  the 
Universe." 

The  quaint  old  wooden  mansion,  with  the  stately 
but  simple  old-fashioned  mahogany  furniture,  real  and 
ungarnished;  the  swords  and  relics  of  campaigns  and 
scenes  familiar  to  every  schoolboy  now;  the  key  of  the 
Bastile  hanging  in  the  hall  incased  in  glass,  calling  to 
mind  Tom  Paine's  happy  expression,  "That  the  princi 
ples  of  the  American  Revolution  opened  the  Bastile 
is  not  to  be  doubted,  therefore  the  key  comes  to  the 
right  place;"  the  black  velvet  coat  worn  when  the 
farewell  address  to  the  Army  was  made;  the  rooms 
all  in  nicety  of  preparation  as  if  expectant  of  the  com- 


WASHINGTON  109 

ing  host — we  move  among  these  memorials  of  days 
and  men  long  vanished — we  stand  under  the  great 
trees  and  watch  the  solemn  river,  in  its  never-ceasing 
flow,  we  gaze  upon  the  simple  tomb  whose  silence  is 
unbroken  save  by  the  low  murmur  of  the  waters  cr 
the  wild  bird's  note,  and  we  are  enveloped  in  an  atmos 
phere  of  moral  grandeur  which  no  pageantry  of  mov 
ing  men  nor  splendid  pile  can  generate.  Nightly  on  the 
plain  of  Marathon — the  Greeks  have  the  tradition- 
there  may  yet  be  heard  the  neighing  of  chargers  and  the 
rushing  shadows  of  spectral  war.  In  the  spell  that 
broods  over  the  sacred  groves  of  Vernon,  Patriotism, 
Honor,  Courage,  Justice,  Virtue,  Truth  seem  bodied 
forth,  the  only  imperishable  realities  of  man's  being. 

There  emerges  from  the  shades  the  figure  of  a  youth 
over  whose  cradle  had  hovered  no  star  of  destiny,  nor 
dandled  a  royal  crown — an  ingenious  youth,  and  one 
who  in  his  early  days  gave  auguries  of  great  powers. 
The  boy  whose  strong  arm  could  fling  a  stone  across 
the  Rappahannock;  whose  strong  will  could  tame 
the  most  fiery  horse;  whose  just  spirit  made  him  the 
umpire  of  his  fellows;  whose  obedient  heart  bowed 
to  a  mother's  yearning  for  her  son  and  laid  down  the 
midshipman's  warrant  in  the  British  Navy  which  an 
swered  his  first  ambitious  dream;  the  student  trans 
cribing  mathematical  problems,  accounts,  and  busi 
ness  forms,  or  listening  to  the  soldiers  and  seamen  of 
vessels  in  the  river  as  they  tell  of  "hair-breadth  'scapes 
by  flood  and  field;"  the  early  moralist  in  his  thirteenth 
year  compiling  matured  "Rules  for  behavior  and  con 
versation;"  the  surveyor  of  sixteen,  exploring  the  wil- 


110  AMERICAN     PATRIOTISM 

derness  for  Lord  Fairfax,  sleeping  on  the  ground,  climb 
ing  mountains,  swimming  rivers,  killing  and  cooking 
his  own  game,  noting  in  his  diary  soils,  minerals,  and 
locations,  and  m-aking  maps  which  are  models  of  nice 
and  accurate  draughtsmanship;  the  incipient  soldier, 
studying  tactics  under  Adjutant  Muse,  and  taking 
lessons  in  broadsword  fence  from  the  old  soldier  of 
fortune,  Jacob  Van  Braam;  the  major  and  adjutant- 
general  of  the  Virginia  frontier  forces  at  nineteen : — 
we  seem  to  see  him  yet  as  here  he  stood,  a  model  of 
manly  beauty  in  his  youthful  prime,  a  man  in  all  that 
makes  a  man  ere  manhood's  years  have  been  fulfilled, 
standing  on  the  threshold  of  a  grand  career,  "hearing 
his  days  before  him  and  the  trumpet  of  his  life." 

The  scene  changes.  Out  into  the  world  of  stern  ad 
venture  he  passes,  taking  as  naturally  to  the  field  and 
the  frontier  as  the  eagle  to  the  air.  At  the  age  of 
twenty-one  he  is  riding  from  Williamsburg  to  the 
French  post  at  Venango,  in  Western  Pennsylvania, 
on  a  mission  for  Governor  Dinwiddie,  which  requires 
"courage  to  cope  with  savages  and  sagacity  to  negotiate 
with  white  men" — on  that  mission  which  Edward 
Everett  recognizes  as  "the  first  movement  of  a  mili 
tary  nature  which  resulted  in  the  establishment  of 
American  Independence."  At  twenty-two  he  has 
fleshed  his  maiden  sword,  has  heard  the  bullets  whistle, 
and  found  "something  charming  in  the  sound;"  and 
soon  he  is  colonel  of  the  Virginia  regiment  in  the  un 
fortunate  affair  at  Fort  Necessity,  and  is  compelled  to 
retreat  after  losing  a  sixth  of  his  command.  He  quits 
the  service  on  a  point  of  military  etiquette  and  honor, 


WASHINGTON  111 

but  at  twenty-three  he  reappears  as  volunteer  aide  by 
the  side  of  Braddock  in  the  ill-starred  expedition 
against  Fort  Duquesne,  and  is  the  only  mounted  officer 
unscathed  in  the  disaster,  escaping  with  four  bullets 
through  his  garments,  and  after  having  two  horses  shot 
under  him. 

The  prophetic  eye  of  Samuel  Davies  has  now  pointed 
him  out  as  "that  heroic  youth,  Colonel  Washington, 
whom  I  carr  but  hope  Providence  has  hitherto  pre 
served  in  so  signal  a  manner  for  some  important  serv 
ice  to  his  country;"  and  soon  the  prophecy  is  fulfilled. 
The  same  year  he  is  in  command  of  the  Virginia  fron 
tier  forces.  Arduous  conflicts  of  varied  fortunes  are 
ere  long  ended,  and  on  the  25th  of  November,  1759, 
he  marches  into  the  reduced  fortress  of  Fort  Duquesne 
—where  Pittsburgh  now  stands,  and  the  Titans  of  In 
dustry  wage  the  eternal  war  of  Toil — marches  in  with 
the  advanced  guard  of  his  troops,  and  plants  the  Brit 
ish  flag  over  its  smoking  ruins. 

That  self-same  year  Wolfe,  another  young  and  bril 
liant  soldier  of  Britain,  has  scaled  and  triumphed  on 
the  Heights  of  Abraham — his  flame  of  valor  quenched 
as  it  lit  the  blaze  of  victory;  Canada  surrenders;  the 
Seven  Years'  War  is  done;  the  French  power  in 
America  is  broken,  and  the  vast  region  west  of  the 
Alleghenies,  from  the  lakes  to  the  Ohio,  embracing  its 
valley  and  tributary  streams,  is  under  the  scepter  of 
King  George.  America  has  been  made  whole  to  the 
English-speaking  race,  to  become  in  time  the  greater 
Britain. 

Thus,  building  wiser  than  he  knew,  Washington  had 


WASHINGTON  113 

taken  no  small  part  in  cherishing  the  seed  of  a  nascent 
nation. 

Mount  Vernon  welcomes  back  the  soldier  of  twenty- 
seven,  who  has  become  a  name.  Domestic  felicity 
spreads  its  charms  around  him  with  the  'agreeable 
partner"  whom  he  has  taken  to  his  bosom,  and  he 
dreams  of  "more  happiness  than  he  has  experienced 
in  the  wide  and  bustling  world." 

Already,  ere  his  sword  had  found  its  scabbard,  the 
people  of  Frederick  county  had  made  him  their  mem 
ber  of  the  House  of  Burgesses.  And  the  quiet  years 
roll  by  as  the  planter,  merchant,  and  representative 
superintends  his  plantation,  ships  his  crops,  posts  his 
books,  keeps  his  diary,  chases  the  fox  for  amusement, 
or  rides  over  to  Annapolis  and  leads  the  dance  at  the 
Maryland  capital — alternating  between  these  private 
pursuits  and  serving  his  people  as  member  of  the  Leg 
islature  and  justice  of  the  county  court. 

But  ere  long  this  happy  life  is  broken.  The  air  is 
electric  with  the  currents  of  revolution.  England  has 
launched  forth  on  the  fatal  policy  of  taxing  her  colonies 
without  their  consent.  The  spirit  of  liberty  and  resist 
ance  is  aroused.  He  is  loth  to  part  with  the  Mother 
Land,  which  he  still  calls  "home."  But  she  turns  a 
deaf  ear  to  reason.  The  first  Colonial  Congress  is 
called.  He  is  a  delegate,  and  rides  to  Philadelphia  with 
Henry  and  Pendleton.  The  blow  at  Lexington  is 
struck.  The  people  rush  to  arms.  The  sons  of  the 
Cavaliers  spring  to  the  side  of  the  sons  of  the  Pilgrims. 
"Unhappy  it  is,"  he  says,  "that  a  brother's  sword  has 
been  sheathed  in  a  brother's  breast,  and  that  the  once 


114  AMERICAN    PATRIOTISM 

happy  plains  of  America  are  to  be  either  drenched  in 
blood  or  inhabited  by  slaves.  Sad  alternative!  But 
how  can  a  virtuous  man  hesitate  in  his  choice?"  He 
becomes  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  American  forces. 
After  seven  years'  war  he  is  the  deliverer  of  his  coun 
try.  The  old  Confederation  passes  away.  The  Con 
stitution  is  established.  He  is  twice  chosen  President, 
and  will  not  consent  longer  to  serve. 

Once  again  Mount  Vernon's  grateful  shades  receive 
him,  and  there — the  world-crowned  Hero  now — he  be^ 
comes  again  the  simple  citizen,  wishing  for  his  fellow 
men  "to  see  the  whole  world  in  peace  and  its  inhabit 
ants  one  band  of  brothers,  striving  who  could  contrib 
ute  most  to  the  happiness  of  mankind" — without  a 
wish  for  himself,  but  "to  live  and  die  an  honest  man  on 
his  farm."  A  speck  of  war  spots  the  sky.  John  Adams, 
now  president,  calls  him  forth  as  lieutenant-general 
and  commander-in-chief  to  lead  America  once  more. 
But  the  cloud  vanishes.  Peace  reigns.  The  lark  sings 
at  Heaven's  gate  in  the  fair  morn  of  the  new  nation. 
Serene,  contented,  yet  in  the  strength  of  manhood, 
though  on  the  verge  of  threescore  years  and  ten,  he 
looks  forth — the  quiet  farmer  from  his  pleasant  fields, 
the  loving  patriarch  from  the  bowers  of  home — looks 
forth  and  sees  the  work  of  his  hands  established  in  a 
free  and  happy  people.  Suddenly  comes  the  mortal 
stroke  with  severe  cold.  The  agony  is  soon  over.  He 
feels  his  own  dying  pulse — the  hand  relaxes — he  mur 
murs,  "It  is  well;"  and  Washington  is  no  more. 

Washington,  the  friend  of  Liberty,  is  no  more! 

The  solemn  cry  filled  the  universe.    Amidst  the  tears 


WASHINGTON  115 

of  his  people,  the  bowed  heads  of  kings,  and  the  lamen 
tations  of  the  nations,  they  laid  him  there  to  rest  upon 
the  banks  of  the  river  whose  murmurs  were  his  boy 
hood's  music — that  river  which,  rising  in  mountain 
fastnesses  amongst  the  grandest  works  of  nature  and 
reflecting  in  its  course  the  proudest  works  of  man,  is  a 
symbol  of  his  history,  which  in  its  ceaseless  and  ever- 
widening  flow  is  a  symbol  of  his  eternal  fame. 

No  sum  could  now  be  made  of  Washington's  charac 
ter  that  did  not  exhaust  language  of  its  tributes  and 
repeat  virtues  by  all  her  names.  No  sum  could  be  made 
of  his  achievements  that  did  not  unfold  the  history  of 
his  country  and  its  institutions — the  history  of  his  age 
and  its  progress — the  history  of  man  and  his  destiny 
to  be  free.  But  whether  character  or  achievement  be 
regarded,  the  riches  before  us  only  expose  the  poverty 
of  praise.  So  clear  was  he  in  his  great  office  that  no 
ideal  of  the  Leader  or  the  Ruler  can  be  formed  that 
does  not  shrink  by  the  side  of  the  reality.  And  so  has 
he  impressed  himself  upon  the  minds  of  men,  that  no 
man  can  justly  aspire  to  be  the  chief  of  a  great  free 
people  who  does  not  adopt  his  principles  and  emulate 
his  example.  We  look  with  amazement  on  such  ec 
centric  characters  as  Alexander,  Caesar,  Cromwell, 
Frederick,  and  Napoleon;  but  when  the  serene  face 
of  Washington  rises  before  us  mankind  instinctively 
exclaims,  "This  is  the  Man  for  the  nations  to  trust 
and  reverence  and  for  heroes  and  rulers  to  copy." 

Disinterested  patriot,  he  would  receive  no  pay  for 
his  military  services.  Refusing  gifts,  he  was  glad  to 
guide  the  benefaction  of  a  grateful  state  to  educate  the 


116  AMERICAN    PATRIOTISM 

children  of  his  fallen  braves  in  the  institution  at  Lex 
ington  which  yet  bears  his  name.  Without  any  of  the 
blemishes  that  mark  the  tyrant,  he  appealed  so  loftily 
to  the  virtuous  elements  in  man  that  he  almost  created 
the  qualities  of  which  his  country  needed  the  exercise; 
and  yet  he  was  so  magnanimous  and  forbearing  to  the 
weaknesses  of  others,  that  he  often  obliterated  the 
vices  of  which  he  feared  the  consequence.  But  his 
virtue  was  more  than  this.  It  was  of  that  daring, 
intrepid  kind  that,  seizing  principle  with  a  giant's 
grasp,  assumes  responsibility  at  any  hazard,  suffers 
sacrifice  without  pretense  of  martyrdom,  bears  calumny 
without  reply,  imposes  superior  will  and  understanding 
on  all  around  it,  capitulates  to  no  unworthy  triumph, 
but  must  carry  all  things  at  the  point  of  clear  and 
blameless  conscience.  Scorning  all  manner  of  mean 
ness  and  cowardice,  his  bursts  of  wrath  at  their  ex 
hibition  heighten  our  admiration  for  those  noble  pas 
sions  which  were  kindled  by  the  inspirations  and 
exigencies  of  virtue. 

Great  in  action  as  by  the  council  board,  the  finest 
horseman  and  knightliest  figure  of  his  time,  he  seemed 
designed  by  nature  to  lead  in  those  bold  strokes  which 
needs  must  come  when  the  battle  lies  with  a  single  man 
—those  critical  moments  of  the  campaign  or  the  strife 
when,  if  the  mind  hesitates  or  a  nerve  flinches,  all  is 
lost.  We  can  never  forget  the  passage  of  the  Delaware 
that  black  December  night,  amidst  shrieking  winds 
and  great  upheaving  blocks  of  ice  which  would  have 
petrified  a  leader  of  less  hardy  mold,  and  then  the  fell 
swoop  at  Trenton.  Wre  behold  him  as  when  at  Mon- 


WASHINGTON  117 

mouth  he  turns  back  the  retreating  lines,  and  gallop 
ing  his  white  charger  along  the  ranks  until  he  falls, 
leaps  on  his  Arabian  bay,  and  shouts  to  his  men: 
"Stand  fast,  my  boys,  the  Southern  troops  are  coming 
to  support  you!"  And  we  hear  Lafayette  exclaim, 
"Never  did  I  behold  so  superb  a  man!"  We  see  him 
again  at  Princeton  dashing  through  a  storm  of  shot  to 
rally  the  wavering  troops;  he  reins  his  horse  between 
the  contending  lines,  and  cries:  "Will  you  leave  your 
general  to  the  foe?"  then  bolts  into  the  thickest  fray. 
Colonel  Fitzgerald,  his  aid,  drops  his  reins  and  pulls 
his  hat  down  over  his  eyes  that  he  may  not  see  his 
chieftain  fall,  when,  through  the  smoke  he  reappears 
waving  his  hat,  cheering  on  his  men,  and  shouting: 
"Away,  dear  Colonel,  and  bring  up  the  troops;  the 
day  is  ours."  "Cceur  de  Lion"  might  have  doffed  his 
plume  to  such  a  chief,  for  a  great  knight  was  he,  who 
met  his  foes  full  tilt  in  the  shock  of  battle  and  hurled 
them  down  with  an  arm  whose  sword  flamed  with 
righteous  indignation. 

As  children  pore  over  the  pictures  in  their  books 
where  they  can  read  the  words  annexed  to  them,  so  we 
linger  with  tingling  blood  by  such  inspiring  scenes, 
while  little  do  we  reck  of  those  dark  hours  when  the 
aching  head  pondered  the  problems  of  a  country's  fate. 
And  yet  there  is  a  greater  theater  in  which  Washing- 
ton  appears,  although  not  so  often  has  its  curtain  been 
uplifted. 

For  it  was  as  a  statesman  that  Washington  was 
greatest.  Not  in  the  sense  that  Hamilton  and  Jeffer 
son,  Adams  and  Madison  were  statesmen;  but  in  a 

AMERICA    FIRST 8. 


118  AMERICAN     PATRIOTISM 

larger  sense.  Men  may  marshal  armies  who  cannot 
drill  divisions.  Men  may  marshal  nations  in  storm 
and  travail  who  have  not  the  accomplishments  of  their 
cabinet  ministers.  Not  so  versed  as  they  was  he  in  the 
details  of  political  science.  And  yet  as  he  studied 
tactics  when  he  anticipated  war,  so  he  studied  politics 
when  he  saw  his  civil  role  approaching,  reading  the 
history  and  examining  the  principles  of  ancient  and 
modern  confederacies,  and  making  notes  of  their  vir 
tues,  defects,  and  methods  of  operation. 

His  pen  did  not  possess  the  facile  play  and  classic 
grace  of  their  pens,  but  his  vigorous  eloquence  had  the 
clear  ring  of  our  mother  tongue.  I  will  not  say  that  he 
was  so  astute,  so  quick,  so  inventive  as  the  one  or 
another  of  them — that  his  mind  was  characterized  by 
the  vivacity  of  wit,  the  rich  colorings  of  fancy,  or  dar 
ing  flights  of  imagination.  But  with  him  thought  and 
action  like  well-trained  coursers  kept  abreast  in  the 
chariot  race,  guided  by  an  eye  that  never  quailed, 
reined  by  a  hand  that  never  trembled.  He  had  a  more 
infallible  discrimination  of  circumstances  and  men  than 
any  of  his  contemporaries.  He  weighed  facts  in  a  juste  r 
scale,  with  larger  equity,  and  firmer  equanimity.  He 
best  applied  to  them  the  lessons  of  experience.  With 
greater  ascendancy  of  character  he  held  men  to  their 
appointed  tasks;  with  more  inspiring  virtue  he  com 
manded  more  implicit  confidence.  He  bore  a  truer 
divining-rod,  and  through  a  wilderness  of  contention 
he  alone  was  the  unerring  Pathfinder  of  the  People, 
There  can,  indeed,  be  no  right  conception  of  Washing 
ton  that  does  not  accord  him  a  great  and  extraordinary 


WASHINGTON  119 

genius.  I  will  not  say  he  could  have  produced  a  play  of 
Shakespeare,  or  a  poem  of  Milton,  handled  with  Kant 
the  tangled  skein  of  metaphysics,  probed  the  secrecies 
of  mind  and  matter  with  Bacon,  constructed  a  railroad 
or  an  engine  like  Stephenson,  wooed  the  electric  spark 
from  heaven  to  earth  with  Franklin,  or  walked  with 
Newton  the  pathways  of  the  spheres.  But  if  his  genius 
were  of  a  different  order,  it  was  of  as  rare  and  high  an 
order.  It  dealt  with  man  in  the  concrete,  with  his  vast 
concerns  of  business  stretching  over  a  continent  and 
projected  into  the  ages,  with  his  seething  passions;' 
with  his  marvelous  exertions  of  mind,  body,  and  spirit 
to  be  free.  He  knew  the  materials  he  dealt  with  by 
intuitive  perception  of  the  heart  of  man,  by  experience 
and  observation  of  his  aspirations  and  his  powers,  by 
reflection  upon  his  complex  relations,  rights,  and 
duties  as  a  social  being.  He  knew  just  where,  between 
men  and  states,  to  erect  the  monumental  mark  to 
divide  just  reverence  for  authority  from  just  resistance 
to  its  abuse.  A  poet  of  social  facts,  he  interpreted  by 
his  deeds  the  harmonies  of  justice. 

First  to  perceive,  and  swift  to  point  out,  the  defects 
in  the  Articles  of  Confederation,  they  became  manifest 
to  all  long  before  victory  crowned  the  warfare  con 
ducted  under  them.  Charged  by  them  with  the  public 
defense,  Congress  could  not  put  a  soldier  in  the  field; 
and  charged  with  defraying  expenses,  it  could  not  levy 
a  dollar  of  imposts  or  taxes.  It  could,  indeed,  borrow 
money  with  the  assent  of  nine  states  of  the  thirteen, 
but  what  mockery  of  finance  was  that,,  when  the  bor 
rower  could  not  command  any  resource  of  payment. 


120  AMERICAN    PATRIOTISM 

The  states  had  indeed  put  but  a  scepter  of  straw  in 
the  legislative  hand  of  the  Confederation — what  won 
der  that  it  soon  wore  a  crown  of  thorns!  The  paper 
currency  ere  long  dissolved  to  nothingness;  for  four 
days  the  army  was  without  food,  and  whole  regi 
ments  drifted  from  the  ranks  of  our  hard-pressed 
defenders.  "I  see,"  said  Washington,  "one  head 
gradually  changing  into  thirteen;  I  see  one  army 
gradually  branching  into  thirteen,  which,  instead  of 
looking  up'  to  Congress  as  the  supreme  controlling 
power,  are  considering  themselves  as  dependent  upon 
their  respective  states."  While  yet  his  sword  could 
not  slumber,  his  busy  pen  was  warning  the  statesmen 
of  the  country  that  unless  Congress  were  invested 
with  adequate  powers,  or  should  assume  them  as  mat 
ter  of  right,  we  should  become  but  thirteen  states, 
pursuing  local  interests,  until  annihilated  in  a  general 
crash — the  cause  would  be  lost — and  the  fable  of  the 
bundle  of  sticks  applied  to  us. 

In  rapid  succession  his  notes  of  alarm  and  invoca 
tions  for  aid  to  Union  followed  each  other  to  the  lead 
ing  men  of  the  states,  North  and  South.  Turning 
to  his  own  state,  and  appealing  to  George  Mason, 
"Where,"  he  exclaimed,  "where  are  our  men  of  abili 
ties?  Why  do  they  not  come  forth  and  save  the  coun 
try?"  He  compared  the  affairs  of  this  great  continent 
to  the  mechanism  of  a  clock,  of  which  each  state  was 
putting  its  own  small  part  in  order,  but  neglecting 
the  great  wheel,  or  spring,  which  was  to  put  the  whole 
in  motion.  He  summoned  Jefferson,  Wythe,  and 
Pendleton  to  his  assistance,  telling  them  that  the  pres- 


WASHINGTON  2 

ent  temper  of  the  states  was  friendly  to  lasting  union, 
that  the  moment  should  be  improved  and  might  never 
return,  and  that  "after  gloriously  and  successfully 
contending  against  the  usurpation  of  Britain  we  may 
fall  a  prey  to  our  own  folly  and  disputes." 

How  keen  the  prophet's  ken,  that  through  the  smoke 
of  war  discerned  the  coming  evil;  how  diligent  the 
patriot's  hand,  that  amidst  awful  responsibilities 
reached  futureward  to  avert  it!  By  almost  a  miracle 
the  weak  Confederation,  "a  barrel  without  a  hoop," 
was  held  together  perforce  of  outside  pressure;  and 
soon  America  was  free. 

But  not  yet  had  beaten  Britain  concluded  peace— 
not  yet  had  dried  the  blood  of  Victory's  field,  ere 
"follies  and  disputes"  confounded  all  things  with  their 
Babel  tongues  and  intoxicated  liberty  gave  loose  to 
license.  An  unpaid  army  with  unsheathed  swords 
clamored  around  a  poverty-stricken  and  helpless  Con 
gress.  And  grown  at  last  impatient  even  with  their 
chief,  officers  high  in  rank  plotted  insurrection  and  cir 
culated  an  anonymous  address,  urging  it  "to  appeal 
from  the  justice  to  the  fears  of  government,  and  suspect 
the  man  who  would  advise  to  longer  forbearance." 
Anarchy  was  about  to  erect  the  Arch  of  Triumph- 
poor,  exhausted,  bleeding,  weeping  America  lay  in 
agony  upon  her  bed  of  laurels. 

Not  a  moment  did  Washington  hesitate.  He  con 
vened  his  officers,  and  going  before  them  he  read  them 
an  address,  which,  for  homethrust  argument,  magnani 
mous  temper,  and  the  eloquence  of  persuasion  which 
leaves  nothing  to  be  added,  is  not  exceeded  by  the 


AMERICAN    PATRIOTISM 

noblest  utterances  of  Greek  or  Roman.  A  nobler  than 
Coriolanus  was  before  them,  who  needed  no  mother's 
or  wife's  reproachful  tears  to  turn  the  threatening 
steel  from  the  gates  of  Rome.  Pausing,  as  he  read  his 
speech,  he  put  on  his  spectacles  and  said:  "I  have 
grown  gray  in  your  service,  and  now  find  myself  grow 
ing  blind."  This  unaffected  touch  of  nature  completed 
the  master's  spell.  The  late  foment  ers  of  insurrection 
gathered  to  their  chief  with  words  of  veneration — the 
storm  went  by — and,  says  Curtis  in  his  History  of  the 
Constitution,  "Had  the  Commander-in-Chief  been 
other  than  Washington,  the  land  would  have  been 
deluged  with  the  blood  of  civil  war." 

But  not  yet  was  Washington's  work  accomplished. 
Peace  dawned  upon  the  weary  land,  and  parting  with 
his  soldiers,  he  pleaded  with  them  for  union.  "Happy, 
thrice  happy,  shall  they  be  pronounced,"  he  said, 
"who  have  contributed  anything  in  erecting  this 
stupendous  fabric  of  freedom  and  empire;  who  have 
assisted  in  protecting  the  rights  of  human  nature,  and 
establishing  an  asylum  for  the  poor  and  oppressed  of 
all  nations  and  religions."  But  still  the  foundations  of 
the  stupendous  fabric  trembled,  and  no  cement  held 
its  stones  together.  It  was  then,  with  that  thickening 
peril,  Washington  rose  to  his  highest  stature.  Without 
civil  station  to  call  forth  his  utterance,  impelled  by  the 
intrepid  impulse  of  a  soul  that  could  not  see  the  hope 
of  a  nation  perish  without  leaping  into  the  stream  to 
save  it,  he  addressed  the  whole  People  of  America  in  a 
circular  to  the  governors  of  the  states:  "Convinced 
of  the  importance  of  the  crisis,  silence  in  me,"  he  said, 


WASHINGTON  128 

"would  be  a  crime.  I  will,  therefore,  speak  the  lan 
guage  of  freedom  and  sincerity/'  He  set  forth  the 
need  of  union  in  a  strain  that  touched  the  quick  of 
sensibility;  he  held  up  the  citizens  of  America  as  sole 
lords  of  a  vast  tract  of  continent;  he  portrayed  the  fair 
opportunity  for  political  happiness  with  which  Heaven 
had  crowned  them;  he  pointed  out  the  blessings  that 
would  attend  their  collective  wisdom;  that  mutual 
concessions  and  sacrifices  must  be  made;  and  that 
supreme  power  must  be  lodged  somewhere  to  regulate 
and  govern  the  general  concerns  of  the  Confederate 
Republic,  without  which  the  Union  would  not  be  of 
long  duration.  And  he  urged  that  happiness  would  be 
ours  if  we  seized  the  occasion  and  made  it  our  own. 
In  this,  one  of  the  very  greatest  acts  of  Washington, 
was  revealed  the  heart  of  the  man,  the  spirit  of  the 
hero,  the  wisdom  of  the  sage — I  might  almost  say  the 
sacred  inspiration  of  the  prophet. 

But  still  the  wing  of  the  eagle  drooped;  the  gather 
ing  storms  baffled  his  sunward  flight.  Even  with 
Washington  in  the  van,  the  column  wavered  and 
halted — states  straggling  to  the  rear  that  had  hitherto 
been  foremost  for  permanent  union,  under  an  effica 
cious  constitution.  And  while  three  years  rolled  by 
amidst  the  jargon  of  sectional  and  local  contentions, 
"the  half -starved  government,"  as  Washington  de 
picted  it,  "limped  along  on  crutches,  tottering  at  every 
step."  And  while  monarchical  Europe  with  saturnine 
face  declared  that  the  American  hope  of  union  was 
the  wild  and  visionary  notion  of  romance,  and  pre 
dicted  that  we  would  be  to  the  end  of  time  a  disunited 


124  AMERICAN    PATRIOTISM 

people,  suspicious  and  distrustful  of  each  other,  divided 
and  subdivided  into  petty  commonwealths  and  prin 
cipalities,  lo!  the  very  earth  yawned  under  the  feet 
of  America,  and  in  that  very  region  whence  had  come 
forth  a  glorious  band  of  orators,  statesmen  and  soldiers 
to  plead  the  cause  and  fight  the  battles  of  Independence 
— lo!  the  volcanic  fires  of  rebellion  burst  forth  upon 
the  heads  of  the  faithful,  and  the  militia  were  leveling 
the  guns  of  the  Revolution,  against  the  breasts  of 
their  brethren.  "What,  gracious  God!  is  man?" 
Washington  exclaimed:  "It  was  but  the  other  day 
that  we  were  shedding  our  blood  to  obtain  the  con 
stitutions  under  which  we  live,  and  now  we  are  un 
sheathing  our  swords  to  overturn  them." 

But  see!  there  is  a  ray  of  hope.  Maryland  and  Vir 
ginia  had  already  entered  into  a  commercial  treaty 
for  regulating  the  navigation  of  the  rivers  and  great 
bay  in  which  they  had  common  interests,  and  Wash 
ington  had  been  one  of  the  commissioners  in  its  nego 
tiation.  And  now,  at  the  suggestion  of  Maryland, 
Virginia  had  called  on  all  the  states  to  meet  in  con 
vention  at  Annapolis,  to  adopt  commercial  regulations 
for  the  whole  country.  Could  this  foundation  be  laid, 
the  eyes  of  the  nation-builders  foresaw  that  the  per 
manent  structure  would  ere  long  rise  upon  it.  But 
when  the  day  of  meeting  came  no  state  north  of  New 
York  or  south  of  Virginia  was  represented;  and  in  their 
helplessness  those  assembled  could  only  recommend  a 
constitutional  convention,  to  meet  in  Philadelphia  in 
May,  1787,  to  provide  for  the  exigencies  of  the  situation. 
And  still  thick  clouds  and  darkness  rested  on  the 


WASHINGTON  125 

land,  and  there  lowered  upon  its  hopes  a  night  as  black 
as  that  upon  the  freezing  Delaware;  but  through  the 
gloom  the  dauntless  leader  was  still  marching  on  to  the 
consummation  of  his  colossal  work,  with  a  hope  that 
never  died;  with  a  courage  that  never  faltered;  with 
a  wisdom  that  never  yielded  that  "all  is  vanity." 

It  was  not  permitted  the  Roman  to  despair  of  the 
republic,  nor  did  he — our  chieftain.  "It  will  air  come 
right  at  last,"  he  said.  It  did.  And  now  let  the  histo 
rian,  Bancroft,  speak:  "From  this  state  of  despair  the 
country  was  lifted  by  Madison  and  Virginia."  Again 
he  says:  "We  come  now  to  a  week  more  glorious  for 
Virginia  beyond  any  in  her  annals,  or  in  the  history  of 
any  republic  that  had  ever  before  existed." 

It  was  that  week  in  which  Madison,  "giving  effect  to 
his  own  long-cherished  wishes,  and  still  earlier  wishes 
of  Washington,"  addressing,  as  it  were,  the  whole 
country,  and  marshaling  all  the  states,  warned  them 
"that  the  crisis  had  arrived  at  which  the  people  of 
America  are  to  decide  the  solemn  question,  whether 
they  would,  by  wise  and  magnanimous  efforts  reap 
the  fruits  of  independence  and  of  union,  or  whether 
by  giving  way  to  unmanly  jealousies  and  prejudices, 
or  to  impartial  and  transitory  interests,  they  would 
renounce  the  blessings  prepared  for  them  by  the  Revo 
lution,"  and  conjuring  them  "to  concur  in  such  further 
concessions  and  provisions  as  may  be  necessary  to 
secure  the  objects  for  which  that  government  was 
instituted,  and  make  the  United  States  as  happy  in 
peace  as  they  had  been  glorious  in  war." 

In  such  manner,  my  countrymen,  Virginia,  adopt- 


126  AMERICAN    PATRIOTISM 

ing  the  words  of  Madison,  and  moved  by  the  constant 
spirit  of  Washington,  joined  in  convoking  that  Con 
stitutional  Convention,  in  which  he  headed  her  dele 
gation,  and  over  which  he  presided,  and  whose  delib 
erations  resulted  in  the  formation  and  adoption  of  that 
instrument  which  the  premier  of  Great  Britain  pro 
nounces  "the  most  wonderful  work  ever  struck  off  at 
a  given  time  by  the  brain  and  purpose  of  man." 

In  such  manner  the  state  which  gave  birth  to  the 
Father  of  his  Country,  following  his  guiding  genius  to 
the  Union,  as  it  had  followed  his  sword  through  the 
battles  of  Independence,  placed  herself  at  the  head 
of  the  wavering  column.  In  such  manner  America 
heard  and  hearkened  to  the  voice  of  her  chief ;  and  now 
closing  ranks,  and  moving  with  reanimated  step,  the 
thirteen  commonwealths  wheeled  and  faced  to  the 
front,  on  the  line  of  the  Union,  under  the  sacred  en 
sign  of  the  Constitution. 

Thus  at  last  was  the  crowning  work  of  Washington 
accomplished.  Out  of  the  tempests  of  war,  and  the  tu 
mults  of  civil  commotion,  the  ages  bore  their  fruit,  and 
the  long  yearning  of  humanity  was  answered.  "Rome 
to  America"  is  the  eloquent  inscription  on  one  stone 
contributed  to  yon  colossal  shaft — taken  from  the 
ancient  Temple  of  Peace  that  once  stood  hard  by  the 
palace  of  the  Caesars.  Uprisen  from  the  sea  of  revo 
lution,  fabricated  from  the  ruins  of  the  battered  Bas- 
tiles,  and  dismantled  palaces  of  unhallowed  power, 
stood  forth  now  the  Republic  of  republics,  the  Nation 
of  nations,  the  Constitution  of  constitutions,  to  which 
all  lands  and  times  and  tongues  had  contributed  of 


WASHINGTON  127 

their  wisdom.  And  the  priestess  of  Liberty  was  in  her 
holy  temple. 

When  Salamis  had  been  fought  and  Greece  again 
kept  free,  each  of  the  victorious  generals  voted  him 
self  to  be  first  in  honor;  but  all  agreed  that  Themis- 
tocles  was  second.  When  the  most  memorable  strug 
gle  for  the  rights  of  human  nature,  of  which  time  holds 
record,  was  thus  happily  concluded  in  the  muniment 
of  their  preservation,  whoever  else  was  second,  unani 
mous  acclaim  declared  that  Washington  was  first. 
Nor  in  that  struggle  alone  does  he  stand  foremost. 
In  the  name  of  the  people  of  the  United  States,  their 
president,  their  senators,  their  representatives,  and 
their  judges,  do  crown  to-day  with  the  grandest  crown 
that  veneration  has  ever  lifted  to  the  brow  of  glory, 
him,  whom  Virginia  gave  to  America,  whom  America 
has  given  to  the  world  and  to  the  ages,  and  whom  man 
kind  with  universal  suffrage  has  proclaimed  the  fore 
most  of  the  founders  of  empire  in  the  first  degree  of 
greatness;  whom  Liberty  herself  has  anointed  as  the 
first  citizen  in  the  great  Republic  of  Humanity. 

Encompassed  by  the  inviolate  seas  stands  to-day  the 
American  Republic  which  he  founded — a  freer  Greater 
Britain — uplifted  above  the  powers  and  principalities 
of  the  earth,  even  as  his  monument  is  uplifted  over 
roof  and  dome  and  spire  of  the  multitudinous  city. 

Long  live  the  Republic  of  Washington!  Respected 
by  mankind,  beloved  of  all  its  sons,  long  may  it  be  the 
asylum  of  the  poor  and  oppressed  of  all  lands  and 
religions — long  may  it  be  the  citadel  of  that  liberty 
which  writes  beneath  the  eagle's  folded  wings,  "We 


128  AMERICAN    PATRIOTISM 

will  sell  to  no  man,  we  will  deny  to  no  man,  Right  and 
Justice." 

Long  live  the  United  States  of  America!  Filled  with 
the  free,  magnanimous  spirit,  crowned  by  the  wisdom, 
blessed  by  the  moderation,  hovered  over  by  the  guard 
ian  angel  of  Washington's  example;  may  they  be  ever 
worthy  in  all  things  to  be  defended  by  the  blood  of  the 
brave  who  know  the  rights  of  man  and  shrink  not  from 
their  assertion — may  they  be  each  a  column,  and  al 
together,  under  the  Constitution,  a  perpetual  Temple 
of  Peace,  unshadowed  by  a  Caesar's  palace,  at  whose 
altar  may  freely  commune  all  who  seek  the  union  of 
Liberty  and  Brotherhood. 

Long  live  our  Country!  Oh,  long  through  the  undy 
ing  ages  may  it  stand,  far  removed  in  fact  as  in  space 
from  the  Old  World's  feuds  and  follies,  alone  in  its 
grandeur  and  its  glory,  itself  the  immortal  monument 
of  him  whom  Providence  commissioned  to  teach  man 
the  power  of  Truth,  and  to  pro^fe  to  the  nations  that 
their  Redeemer  liveth. 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

Lecture  by  Henry  Watterson,  journalist  and  orator,  editor  of  the  Louis 
ville,  Ky.,  Courier  Journal  since  1868.  This  lecture  was  originally  delivered 
before  the  Lincoln  Club  of  Chicago,  February  12,  1895,  and  subsequently 
repeated  on  many  platforms  as  a  lecture.  It  has  been  heard  in  all  parts  of 
the  country,  but  nowhere,  with  livelier  demonstrations  of  approval  than  in 
the  cities  of  the  South  "from  Richmond  and  Charleston  to  New  Orleans 
and  Galveston." 

The  statesmen  in  knee  breeches  and  powdered  wigs 
who  signed  the  Declaration  of  Independence  and 
framed  the  Constitution — the  soldiers  in  blue-and-buff, 
top-boots  and  epaulets  who  led  the  armies  of  the 
Revolution — were  what  we  are  wont  to  describe  as 
gentlemen.  They  were  English  gentlemen.  They 
were  not  all,  nor  even  generally,  scions  of  the  British 
aristocracy;  but  they  came,  for  the  most  part,  of  good 
Anglo-Saxon  and  Scotch-Irish  stock. 

The  shoe  buckle  and  the  ruffled  shirt  worked  a  spell 
peculiarly  their  own.  They  carried  with  them  an  air  of 
polish  and  authority.  Hamilton,  though  of  obscure 
birth  and  small  stature,  is  represented  by  those  who 
knew  him  to  have  been  dignity  and  grace  personified; 
and  old  Ben  Franklin,  even  in  woolen  hose,  and  none 
too  courtier-like,  was  the  delight  of  the  great  nobles 
and  fine  ladies,  in  whose  company  he  made  himself  as 
much  at  home  as  though  he  had  been  born  a  marquis. 

The  first  half  of  the  Republic's  first  half  century  of 
existence  the  public  men  of  America,  distinguished 
for  many  things,  were  chiefly  and  almost  universally 
distinguished  for  repose  of  bearing  and  sobriety  of 

129 


130  AMERICAN     PATRIOTISM 

behavior.  It  was  not  until  the  institution  of  African 
slavery  had  got  into  politics  as  a  vital  force  that  Con 
gress  became  a  bear-garden,  and  that  our  lawmakers, 
laying  aside  their  manners  with  their  small  clothes, 
fell  into  the  loose-fitting  habiliments  of  modern  fashion 
and  the  slovenly  jargon  of  partisan  controversy.  The 
gentlemen  who  signed  the  Declaration  and  framed  the 
Constitution  were  succeeded  by  gentlemen — much 
like  themselves — but  these  were  succeeded  by  a  race 
of  party  leaders  much  less  decorous  and  much  more 
self-confident;  rugged,  puissant;  deeply  moved  in  all 
that  they  said  and  did,  and  sometimes  turbulent;  so 
that  finally,  when  the  volcano  burst  forth  flames  that 
reached  the  heavens,  great  human  bowlders  appeared 
amid  the  glare  on  every  side;  none  of  them  much  to 
speak  of  according  to  rules  regnant  at  St.  James  and 
Versailles;  but  vigorous,  able  men,  full  of  their  mission 
and  of  themselves,  and  pulling  for  dear  life  in  opposite 
directions. 

There  were  Seward  and  Sumner  and  Chase,  Corwin 
and  Ben  Wade,  Trumbull  and  Fessenden,  Hale  and 
Collamer  and  Grimes,  and  Wendell  Phillips,  and  Hor 
ace  Greeley,  our  latter-day  Franklin.  There  were 
Toombs  and  Hammond,  and  Slidell  and  Wigfall,  and 
the  two  little  giants,  Douglas  and  Stephens,  and  Yan- 
cey  and  Mason,  amd  Jefferson  Davis.  With  them  soft 
words  buttered  no  parsnips,  and  they  cared  little  how 
many  pitchers  might  be  broken  by  rude  ones.  The 
issue  between  them  did  not  require  a  diagram  to  ex 
plain  it.  It  was  so  simple  a  child  might  understand. 
It  read,  human  slavery  against  human  freedom,  slave 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN  131 

labor  against  free  labor,  and  involved  a  conflict  as  in 
evitable  as  it  was  irrepressible. 

Greek  was  meeting  Greek  at  last;  and  the  field  of 
politics  became  almost  as  sulphurous  and  murky  as 
an  actual  field  of  battle.  Amid  the  noise  and  confusion, 
the  clashing  of  intellects  like  sabers  bright,  and  the 
booming  of  the  big  oratorical  guns  of  the  North  and 
the  South,  now  definitely  arrayed,  there  came  one  day 
into  the  Northern  camp  one  of  the  oddest  figures  im 
aginable;  the  figure  of  a  man  who,  in  spite  of  an  ap 
pearance  somewhat  at  outs  with  Hogarth's  line  of 
beauty,  wore  a  serious  aspect,  if  not  an  air  of  com 
mand,  and,  pausing  to  utter  a  single  sentence  that 
might  be  heard  above  the  din,  passed  on  and  for  a 
moment  disappeared. 

The  sentence  was  pregnant  with  meaning.  The 
man  bore  a  commission  from  God  on  high  !  He  said : 
"A  house  divided  against  itself  cannot  stand.  I 
believe  this  Government  cannot  endure  permanently 
half  free  and  half  slave.  I  do  not  expect  the  Union 
to  be  dissolved;  I  do  not  expect  the  house  to  fall; 
but  I  do  expect  it  will  cease  to  be  divided."  He  was 
Abraham  Lincoln. 

How  shall  I  describe  him  to  you?  Shall  I  do  so  as  he 
appeared  to  me,  when  I  first  saw  him  immediately  on 
his  arrival  in  the  national  capital,  the  chosen  president 
of  the  United  States,  his  appearance  quite  as  strange 
as  the  story  of  his  life,  which  was  then  but  half  known 
and  half  told,  or  shall  I  use  the  words  of  another  and  a 
more  graphic  wordpainter? 

In  Januarv,  1861,  Colonel  A.  K.  McClure,  of  Penn- 


132  AMERICAN    PATRIOTISM 

sylvania,  journeyed  to  Springfield,  Illinois,  to  meet 
and  confer  with  the  man  he  had  done  so  much  to  elect, 
but  whom  he  had  never  personally  known.  "I  went 
directly  from  the  depot  to  Lincoln's  house,"  says 
Colonel  McClure,  "and  rang  the  bell,  which  was  an 
swered  by  Lincoln,  himself,  opening  the  door.  I 
doubt  whether  I  wholly  concealed  my  disappointment 
at  meeting  him.  Tall,  gaunt,  ungainly,  ill-clad,  with 
a  homeliness  of  manner  that  was  unique  in  itself,  I 
confess  that  my  heart  sank  within  me  as  I  remembered 
that  this  was  the  man  chosen  by  a  great  nation  to  be 
come  its  ruler  in  the  gravest  period  of  its  history.  I 
remember  his  dress  as  if  it  were  but  yesterday — snuff- 
colored  and  slouchy  pantaloons;  open  black  vest,  held 
by  a  few  brass  buttons ;  straight  or  evening  dress  coat, 
with  tightly  fitting  sleeves  to  exaggerate  his  long,  bony 
arms,  all  supplemented  by  an  awkwardness  that  was 
uncommon  among  men  of  intelligence.  Such  was  the 
picture  I  met  in  the  person  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  We 
sat  down  in  his  plainly  furnished  parlor  and  were  un 
interrupted  during  the  nearly  four  hours  I  remained 
with  him,  and  little  by  little,  as  his  earnestness,  sin 
cerity,  and  candor  were  developed  in  conversation",  I 
forgot  all  the  grotesque  qualities  which  so  confounded 
me  when  I  first  greeted  him.  Before  half  an  hour 
had  passed  I  learned  not  only  to  respect,  but,  indfeed, 
to  reverence  the  man." 

A  graphic  portrait,  truly,  and  not  unlike.  I  recall 
him,  two  months  later,  a  little  less  uncouth,  a  little 
better  dressed,  but  in  singularity  and  in  angularity 
much  the  same.  All  the  world  now  takes  an  interest 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  IN  1861 


(133) 


AMERICA   FIRST — 9. 


134  AMERICAN    PATRIOTISM 

in  every  detail  that  concerned  him,  or  that  relates 
to  the  weird  tragedy  of  his  life  and  death. 

And  who  was  this  peculiar  being,  destined  in  his 
mother's  arms — for  cradle  he  had  none — so  profoundly  to 
affect  the  future  of  humankind?  He  has  told  us,  him 
self,  in  words  so  simple  and  unaffected,  so  idiomatic 
and  direct,  that  we  can  neither  misread  them,  nor  im 
prove  upon  them.  Writing,  in  1859,  to  one  who  had 
asked  him  for  some  biographic  particulars,  Abraham 
Lincoln  said: — 

"I  was  born  February  12,  1809,  in  Hardin  County, 
Kentucky.  My  parents  were  both  born  in  Virginia,  of 
undistinguished  families — second  families,  perhaps  I 
should  say.  My  mother,  who  died  in  my  tenth  year, 
was  of  a  family  of  the  name  of  Hanks.  .  .  .  My 
paternal  grandfather,  Abraham  Lincoln,  emigrated 
from  Rockingham  County,  Virginia,  to  Kentucky 
about  1781  or  1782,  where,  a  year  or  two  later,  he  was 
killed  by  the  Indians,  not  in  battle,  but  by  stealth, 
when  he  was  laboring  to  open  a  farm  in  the  forest. 

"My  father  (Thomas  Lincoln)  at  the  death  of  his 
father  was  but  six  years  of  age.  By  the  early  death 
of  his  father,  and  the  very  narrow  circumstances  of 
his  mother,  he  was,  even  in  childhood,  a  wandering 
laboring  boy,  and  grew  up  literally  without  education. 
He  never  did  more  in  the  way  of  writing  than  bun- 
glingly  to  write  his  own  name.  ...  He  removed 
from  Kentucky  to  what  is  now  Spencer  County,  Indi 
ana,  in  my  eighth  year It  was  a  wild  region, 

with  many  bears  and  other  animals  still  in  the  woods. 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN  135 

.  .  There  were  some  schools,  so-called,  but  no 
qualification  was  ever  required  of  a  teacher  beyond 
'readin',  writin',  and  cipherin'  to  the  rule  of  three/ 
If  a  straggler  supposed  to  understand  Latin  happened 
to  sojourn  in  the  neighborhood  he  was  looked  upon 
as  a  wizard.  ...  Of  course,  when  I  came  of  age 
I  did  not  know  much.  Still,  somehow,  I  could  read, 
write,  and  cipher  to  the  rule  of  three.  But  that  was 
all.  .  .  .  The  little  advance  I  now  have  upon 
this  store  of  education  I  have  picked  up  from  time  to 
time  under  the  pressure  of  necessity. 

"I  was  raised  to  farm  work  .  .  .  till  I  was 
twenty-two.  At  twenty-one  I  came  to  Illinois— 
Macon  County.  Then  I  got  to  New  Salem,  .  .  . 
where  I  remained  a  year  as  a  sort  of  clerk  in  a  store. 
Then  came  the  Black  Hawk  war;  and  I  was  elected 
captain  of  a  volunteer  company,  a  success  that  gave 
me  more  pleasure  than  any  I  have  had  since.  I  went 
into  the  campaign — was  elated — ran  for  the  legisla 
ture  the  same  year  (1832),  and  was  beaten — the  only 
time  I  ever  have  been  beaten  by  the  people.  The  next, 
and  three  succeeding  biennial  elections,  I  was  elected 
to  the  Legislature.  I  was  not  a  candidate  afterward. 
During  the  legislative  period  I  had  studied  law  and 
removed  to  Springfield  to  practice  it.  In  1846  I  was 
elected  to  the  lower  house  of  Congress.  Was  not  a 
candidate  for  reelection.  From  1849  to  1854,  inclu 
sive,  practiced  law  more  assiduously  than  ever  before. 
Always  a  Whig  in  politics,  and  generally  on  the  Whig 
electoral  tickets,  making  active  canvasses.  I  was  los 
ing  interest  in  politics  when  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri 
Compromise  aroused  me  again. 


136  AMERICAN    PATRIOTISM 

"If  any  personal  description  of  me  is  thought  desir 
able,  it  may  be  said  that  I  am  in  height  six  feet  four 
inches,  nearly;  lean  in  flesh,  weighing  on  an  average 
one  hundred  and  eighty  pounds;  dark  complexion, 
with  coarse  black  hair  and  gray  eyes.  No  other  marks 
or  brands  recollected." 

There  is  the  whole  story,  told  by  himself,  and  brought 
down  to  the  point  where  he  became  a  figure  of  national 
importance. 

His  political  philosophy  was  expounded  in  four 
elaborate  speeches;  one  delivered  at  Peoria,  Illinois, 
the  16th  of  October,  1854;  one  at  Springfield,  Illinois, 
the  16th  of  June,  1858;  one  at  Columbus,  Ohio,  the 
16th  of  September,  1859,  and  one  the  27th  of  Febru 
ary,  1860,  at  Cooper  Institute,  in  the  city  of  New 
York.  Of  course  Mr.  Lincoln  made  many  speeches 
and  very  good  speeches.  But  these  four,  progressive 
in  character,  contain  the  sum  total  of  his  creed  touching 
the  organic  character  of  the  Government  and  at  the 
same  time  his  party  view  of  contemporary  issues. 
They  show  him  to  have  been  an  old-line  Whig  of  the 
school  of  Henry  Clay,  with  strong  emancipation  lean 
ings;  a  thorough  anti-slavery  man,  but  never  an 
extremist  or  an  abolitionist.  To  the  last  he  hewed  to 
the  line  thus  laid  down. 

Two  or  three  years  ago  I  referred  to  Abraham  Lin 
coln — in  a  casual  way — as  one  "inspired  of  God."  I 
was  taken  to  task  for  this  and  thrown  upon  my  defense. 
Knowing  less  then  than  I  know  now  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  I 
confined  myself  to  the  superficial  aspects  of  the  case; 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN  137 

to  the  career  of  a  man  who  seemed  to  have  lacked  the 
opportunity  to  prepare  himself  for  the  great  estate 
to  which  he  had  come,  plucked  as  it  were  from  obscur 
ity  by  a  caprice  of  fortune. 

Accepting  the  doctrine  of  inspiration  as  a  law  of  the 
universe,  I  still  stand  to  this  belief;  but  I  must  qualify 
it  as  far  as  it  conveys  the  idea  that  Mr.  Lincoln  was  not 
as  well  equipped  in  actual  knowledge  of  men  and  af 
fairs  as  any  of  his  contemporaries.  Mr.  Webster  once 
said  that  he  had  been  preparing  to  make  his  reply  to 
Hayne  for  thirty  years.  Mr.  Lincoln  had  been  in  un 
conscious  training  for  the  presidency  for  thirty  years. 
His  maiden  address  as  a  candidate  for  the  Legislature, 
issued  at  the  ripe  old  age  of  twenty-three,  closes  with 
these  words:  "But  if  the  good  people  in  their  wisdom 
shall  see  fit  to  keep  me  in  the  background,  I  have  been 
too  familiar  with  disappointment  to  be  very  much 
chagrined."  The  man  who  wrote  that  sentence,  thirty 
years  later  wrote  this  sentence:  "The  mystic  chords 
of  memory,  stretching  from  every  battlefield  and 
patriot  grave  to  every  living  heart  and  hearthstone 
all  over  this  broad  land,  will  yet  swell  the  chorus  of 
the  Union,  when  again  touched,  as  surely  they  will  be, 
by  the  angels  of  our  better  nature."  Between  those 
two  sentences,  joined  by  a  kindred,  somber  thought, 
flowed  a  life-current — 

"Strong,  without  rage,  without  o'erflowing,  full," 

pausing  never  for  an  instant;  deepening  whilst  it  ran, 
but  nowise  changing  its  course  or  its  tones;  always  the 
same;  calm;  patient;  affectionate;  like  one  born 


138  AMERICAN     PATRIOTISM 

to  a  destiny,  and,  as  in  a  dream,  feeling  its  resistless 
force. 

It  is  needful  to  a  complete  understanding  of  Mr. 
Lincoln's  relation  to  the  time  and  to  his  place  in  the 
political  history  of  the  country,  that  the  student  pe 
ruse  closely  the  four  speeches  to  which  I  have  called 
attention;  they  underlie  all  that  passed  in  the  famous 
debate  with  Douglas;  all  that  their  author  said  and 
did  after  he  succeeded  to  the  presidency.  They  stand 
to-day  as  masterpieces  of  popular  oratory.  But  for 
our  present  purpose  the  debate  with  Douglas  will  suffice 
—the  most  extraordinary  intellectual  spectacle  the 
annals  of  our  party  warfare  afford.  Lincoln  entered 
the  canvass  unknown  outside  the  state  of  Illinois.  He 
closed  it  renowned  from  one  end  of  the  land  to  the 
other. 

In  that  great  debate  it  was  Titan  against  Titan;  and, 
perusing  it  after  the  lapse  of  forty  years,  the  philosophic 
and  impartial  critic  will  conclude  which  got  the  better 
of  it,  Lincoln  or  Douglas,  much  according  to  his  sympa 
thy  with  the  one  or  the  other.  Douglas,  as  I  have  said, 
had  the  disadvantage  of  riding  an  ebb  tide.  But  Lin 
coln  encountered  a  disadvantage  in  riding  a  flood  tide, 
which  was  flowing  too  fast  for  a  man  so  conservative 
and  so  honest  as  he  was.  Thus  there  Was  not  a  little 
equivocation  on  both  sides  foreign  to  the  nature  of  the 
two.  Both  wanted  to  be  frank.  Both  thought  they 
were  being  frank.  But  each  was  a  little  afraid  of  his 
own  logic;  each  was  a  little  afraid  of  his  own  following; 
and  hence  there  was  considerable  hair  splitting,  in 
volving  accusations  that  did  not  accuse  and  denials 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN  139 

that  did  not  deny.  They  were  politicians,  these  two, 
as  well  as  statesmen;  they  were  politicians,  and  what 
they  did  not  know  about  political  campaigning  was 
hardly  worth  knowing.  Reverently,  I  take  off  my  hat 
to  both  of  them;  and  I  turn  down  the  page;  I  close 
the  book  and  lay  it  on  its  shelf,  with  the  inward  ejacu 
lation,  "There  were  giants  in  those  days." 

I  am  not  undertaking  to  deliver  an  oral  biography 
of  Abraham  Lincoln,  and  shall  pass  over  the  events 
which  quickly  led  up  to  his  nomination  and  election  to 
the  presidency  in  1860. 

I  met  the  newly  elected  president  the  afternoon  of 
the  day  in  the  early  morning  of  which  he  had  arrived 
in  Washington.  It  was  a  Saturday,  I  think.  He  came 
to  the  capitol  under  Mr.  Seward's  escort,  and,  among 
the  rest,  I  was  presented  to  him.  His  appearance  did 
not  impress  me  as  fantastically  as  it  had  impressed 
Colonel  McClure.  I  was  more  familiar  with  the  West 
ern  "type  than  Colonel  McClure,  and,  whilst  Mr.  Lin 
coln  was  certainly  not  an  Adonis,  even  after  prairie 
ideals,  there  was  about  him  a  dignity  that  commanded 
respect. 

I  met  him  again  the  forenoon  of  the  4th  of  March  in 
his  apartment  at  Willard's  Hotel  as  he  was  preparing  to 
start  to  his  inauguration,  and  was  touched  by  his  un 
affected  kindness;  for  I  came  with  a  matter  requiring 
his  immediate  attention.  He  was  entirely  self-pos 
sessed;  no  trace  of  nervousness;  and  very  obliging. 
I  accompanied  the  cortege  that  passed  from  the  senate 
chamber  to  the  east  portico  of  the  capitol,  and,  as  Mr. 
Lincoln  removed  his  hat  to  face  the  vast  multitude  in 


140  AMERICAN   PATRIOTISM 

front  and  below,  I  extended  my  hand  to  receive  it,  but 
Judge  Douglas,  just  beside  me,  reached  over  my  out 
stretched  arm  and  took  the  hat,  holding  it  throughout 
the  delivery  of  the  inaugural  address.  I  stood  near 
enough  to  the  speaker's  elbow  not  to  obstruct  any 
gestures  he  might  make,  though  he  made  but  few;  and 
then  it  was  that  I  began  to  comprehend  something  of 
the  power  of  the  man. 

He  delivered  that  inaugural  address  as  if  he  had  been 
delivering  inaugural  addresses  all  his  life.  Firm,  reso 
nant,  earnest,  it  announced  the  coming  of  a  man;  of  a 
leader  of  men;  and  in  its  ringing  tones  and  elevated 
style,  the  gentlemen  he  had  invited  to  become  members 
of  his  political  family — each  of  whom  thought  him 
self  a  bigger  man  than  his  master — might  have  heard 
the  voice  and  seen  the  hand  of  a  man  born  to  command. 
Whether  they  did  or  not,  they  very  soon  ascertained 
the  fact.  From  the  hour  Abraham  Lincoln  crossed  the 
threshold  of  the  White  House  to  the  hour  he  went 
thence  to  his  death,  there  was  not  a  moment  when  he 
did  not  dominate  the  political  and  military  situation 
and  all  his  official  subordinates. 

Always  courteous,  always  tolerant,  always  making 
allowance,  yet  always  explicit,  his  was  the  master 
spirit,  his  the  guiding  hand;  committing  to  each  of  the 
members  of  his  cabinet  the  details  of  the  work  of  his 
own  department;  caring  nothing  for  petty  sovereignty; 
but  reserving  to  himself  all  that  related  to  great  poli 
cies,  the  starting  of  moral  forces  and  the  moving  of 
organized  ideas. 

I  want  to  say  just  here  a  few  words  about  Mr.  Lin- 


ABRAHAM   LINCOLN  141 

coin's  relation  to  the  South  and  the  people  of  the 
South. 

He  was,  himself,  a  Southern  man.  He  and  all  his 
tribe  were  Southerners.  Although  he  left  Kentucky 
when  but  a  child,  he  was  an  old  child;  he  never  was 
very  young;  and  he  grew  to  manhood  in  a  Kentucky 
colony;  for  what  was  Illinois  in  those  days  but  a  Ken 
tucky  colony,  grown  since  somewhat  out  of  propor 
tion?  He  was  in  no  sense  what  we  in  the  South  used 
to  call  "a  poor  white."  Awkward,  perhaps;  ungainly, 
perhaps,  but  aspiring;  the  spirit  of  a  hero  beneath 
that  rugged  exterior;  the  soul  of  a  prose  poet  behind 
those  heavy  brows;  the  courage  of  a  lion  back  of  those 
patient,  kindly  aspects;  and,  long  before  he  was  of 
legal  age,  a  leader.  His  first  love  was  a  Rutledge;  his 
wife  was  a  Todd.  Let  the  romancist  tell  the  story  of 
his  romance.  I  dare  not.  No  sadder  idyl  can  be  found 
in  all  the  short  and  simple  annals  of  the  poor. 

We  know  that  he  was  a  prose  poet;  for  have  we  not 
that  immortal  prose  poem  recited  at  Gettysburg? 
We  know  that  he  was  a  statesman;  for  has  not  time 
vindicated  his  conclusions?  But  the  South  does  not 
know,  except  as  a  kind  of  hearsay,  that  he  was  a  friend; 
the  one  friend  who  had  the  power  and  the  will  to  save 
it  from  itself.  He  was  the  one  man  in  public  life  who 
could  have  come  to  the  head  of  affairs  in  1861  bring 
ing  with  him  none  of  the  embittered  resentments  grow 
ing  out  of  the  anti-slavery  battle.  Whilst  Seward, 
Chase,  Sumner  and  the  rest  had  been  engaged  in  hand- 
to-hand  combat  with  the  Southern  leaders  at  Wash 
ington,  Lincoln,  a  philosopher  and  a  statesman,  had 


142  AMERICAN    PATRIOTISM 

been  observing  the  course  of  events  from  afar,  and  like 
a  philosopher  and  a  statesman.  The  direst  blow  that 
could  have  been  laid  upon  the  prostrate  South  was 
delivered  by  the  assassin's  bullet  that  struck  him  down. 

But  I  digress.  Throughout  the  contention  that  pre 
ceded  the  war,  amid  the  passions  that  attended  the  war 
itself,  not  one  bitter,  prescriptive  word  escaped  the 
lips  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  whilst  there  was  hardly  a 
day  that  he  was  not  projecting  his  great  personality 
between  some  Southern  man  or  woman  and  danger. 

Under  the  date  of  February  2,  1848,  and  from  the 
hall  of  the  House  of  Representatives  at  Washington, 
whilst  he  was  serving  as  a  member  of  Congress,  I  find 
this  short  note  to  his  law  partner  at  Springfield : — 

"DEAR  WILLIAM:  I  take  up  my  pen  to  tell  you  that 
Mr.  Stephens,  of  Georgia,  a  little,  slim,  pale-faced, 
consumptive  man,  with  a  voice  like  Logan's  (that  was 
Stephen  T.,  not  John  A.),  has  just  concluded  the  very 
best  speech  of  an  hour's  length  I  ever  heard.  My  old, 
withered,  dry  eyes  (he  was  then  not  quite  thirty-seven 
years  of  age)  are  full  of  tears  yet." 

From  that  time  forward  he  never  ceased  to  love 
Stephens,  of  Georgia. 

After  that  famous  Hampton  Roads  conference,  when 
the  Confederate  commissioners,  Stephens,  Campbell, 
and  Hunter,  had  traversed  the  field  of  official  routine 
with  Mr.  Lincoln,  the  president,  and  Mr.  Seward,  the 
secretary  of  state,  Lincoln,-  the  friend,  still  the  old 
Whig  colleague,  though  one  was  now  president  of  the 


ABRAHAM   LINCOLN  143 

United  States  and  the  other  vice-president  of  the 
Southern  Confederacy,  took  the  "slim,  pale-faced, 
consumptive  man"  aside,  and,  pointing  to  a  sheet  of 
paper  he  held  in  his  hand,  said:'  "Stephens,  let  me 
write  'Union'  at  the  top  of  that  page,  and  you  may 
write  below  it  whatever  else  you  please." 

In  the  preceding  conversation  Mr.  Lincoln  had  inti 
mated  that  payment  for  the  slaves  was  not  outside  a 
possible  agreement  for  reunion  and  peace.  He  based 
that  statement  upon  a  plan  he  already  had  in  hand,  to 
appropriate  four  hundred  millions  of  dollars  to  this 
purpose. 

There  are  those  who  have  put  themselves  to  the  pains 
of  challenging  this  statement  of  mine.  It  admits  of  no 
possible  equivocation.  Mr.  Lincoln  carried  with  him 
to  Fortress  Monroe  two  documents  that  still  stand  in 
his  own  handwriting;  one  of  them  a  joint  resolution 
to  be  passed  by  the  two  houses  of  Congress  appropri 
ating  the  four  hundred  millions,  the  other  a  proclama 
tion  to  be  issued  by  himself,  as  president,  when  the 
joint  resolution  had  been  passed.  These  formed  no 
part  of  the  discussion  at  Hampton  Roads,  because  Mr. 
Stephens  told  Mr.  Lincoln  they  were  limited  to  treat 
ing  upon  the  basis  of  the  recognition  of  the  Confed 
eracy,  and  to  all  intents  and  purposes  the  conference 
died  before  it  was  actually  born.  But  Mr.  Lincoln 
was  so  filled  with  the  idea  that  next  day,  when  he  had 
returned  to  Washington,  he  submitted  the  two  docu 
ments  to  the  members  of  his  cabinet.  Excepting  Mr. 
Seward,  they  were  all  against  him.  He  said:  "Why, 
gentlemen,  how  long  is  the  war  going  to  last?  It  is  not 


144  AMERICAN   PATRIOTISM 

going  to  end  this  side  of  a  hundred  days,  is  it?  It  is 
costing  us  four  millions  a  day.  There  are  the  four  hun 
dred  millions,  not  counting  the  loss  of  life  and  property 
in  the  meantime.  But  you  are  all  against  me,  and  I 
will  not  press  the  matter  upon  you."  I  have  not  cited 
this  fact  of  history  to  attack,  or  even  to  criticize,  the 
policy  of  the  Confederate  Government,  but  simply  to 
illustrate  the  wise  magnanimity  and  justice  of  the 
character  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  For  my  part  I  rejoice 
that  the  war  did  not  end  at  Fortress  Monroe — or  any 
other  conference — but  that  it  was  fought  out  to  its 
bitter  and  logical  conclusion  at  Appomattox. 

It  was  the  will  of  God  that  there  should  be,  as  God's 
own  prophet  had  promised,  "a  new  birth  of  freedom," 
and  this  could  only  be  reached  by  the  obliteration  of  the 
very  idea  of  slavery.  God  struck  Lincoln  down  in  the 
moment  of  his  triumph,  to  attain  it;  He  blighted  the 
South  to  attain  it.  But  He  did  attain  it.  And  here 
we  are  this  night  to  attest  it.  God's  will  be  done  on 
earth  as  it  is  done  in  Heaven.  But  let  no  Southern  man 
point  finger  at  me  because  I  canonize  Abraham  Lin 
coln,  for  he  was  the  one  friend  we  had  at  court  when 
friends  were  most  in  need;  he  was  the  one  man  in 
power  who  wanted  to  preserve  us  intact,  to  save  us 
from  the  wolves  of  passion  and  plunder  that  stood  at 
our  door;  and  as  that  God,  of  whom  it  has  been  said 
that  "whom  He  loveth  He  chasteneth,"  meant  that 
the  South  should  be  chastened,  Lincoln  was  put  out 
of  the  way  by  the  bullet  of  an  assassin,  having  neither 
lot  nor  parcel,  North  or  South,  but  a  winged  emissary 
of  fate,  flown  from  the  shadows  of  the  mystic  world, 


ABRAHAM   LINCOLN  145 

which  JSschylus  and  Shakespeare  created  and  conse 
crated  to  tragedy ! 

I  sometimes  wonder  shall  we  ever  attain  a  journal 
ism  sufficiently  upright  in  its  treatment  of  current 
events  to  publish  fully  and  fairly  the  utterances  of  our 
public  men,  and,  except  in  cases  of  provable  dishonor, 
to  leave  their  motives  and  their  personalities  alone? 

Reading  just  what  Abraham  Lincoln  did  say  and  did 
do,  it  is  inconceivable  how  such  a  man  could  have 
aroused  antagonism  so  bitter  and  abuse  so  savage,  to 
fall  at  last  by  the  hand  of  an  assassin. 

We  boast  our  superior  civilization  and  our  enlight 
ened  freedom  of  speech;  and  yet,  how  few  of  us— 
when  a  strange  voice  begins  to  utter  unfamiliar  or  un 
palatable  things — how  few  of  us  stop  and  ask  ourselves, 
may  not  this  man  be  speaking  the  truth  after  all?  It 
is  so  easy  to  call  names.  It  is  so  easy  to  impugn  mo 
tives.  It  is  so  easy  to  misrepresent  opinions  we  can 
not  answer.  From  the  least  to  the  greatest  what 
creatures  we  are  of  party  spirit,  and  yet,  for  the  most 
part,  how  small  its  aims,  how  imperfect  its  instru 
ments,  how  disappointing  its  conclusions ! 

One  thinks  now  that  the  world  in  which  Abraham 
Lincoln  lived  might  have  dealt  more  gently  by  such  a 
man.  He  was  himself  so  gentle — so  upright  in  nature 
and  so  broad  of  mind — so  sunny  and  so  tolerant  in 
temper — so  simple  and  so  unaffected  in  bearing — a 
rude  exterior  covering  an  undaunted  spirit,  proving 
by  his  every  act  and  word  that— 

"The  bravest  are  the  tenderest, 
The  loving  are  the  daring." 


146  AMERICAN   PATRIOTISM 

Though  he  was  a  party  leader,  he  was  a  typical  and 
patriotic  American,  in  whom  even  his  enemies  might 
have  found  something  to  respect  and  admire.  But 
it  could  not  be  so.  He  committed  one  grievous  offense; 
he  dared  to  think  and  he  was  not  afraid  to  speak;  he 
was  far  in  advance  of  his  party  and  his  time;  and  men 
are  slow  to  forgive  what  they  do  not  readily  under 
stand. 

Yet,  all  the  while  that  the  waves  of  passion  were 
dashing  over  his  sturdy  figure,  reared  above  the  dead- 
level,  as  a  lone  oak  upon  a  sandy  beach,  not  one  harsh 
word  rankled  in  his  heart  to  sour  the  milk  of  human 
kindness  that,  like  a  perennial  spring  from  the  gnarled 
roots  of  some  majestic  tree,  flowed  within  him.  He 
would  smooth  over  a  rough  place  in  his  official  inter 
course  with  a  funny  story  fitting  the  case  in  point,  and 
they  called  him  a  trifler.  He  would  round  off  a  logical 
argument  with  a  familiar  example,  hitting  the  nail 
squarely  on  the  head  and  driving  it  home,  and  they 
called  him  a  buffoon.  Big  wigs  and  little  wigs  were 
agreed  that  he  lowered  the  dignity  of  debate;  as  if 
debates  were  intended  to  mystify,  and  not  to  clarify 
truth.  Yet  he  went  on  and  on,  and  never  backward, 
until  his  time  was  come,  when  his  genius,  fully  devel 
oped,  rose  to  the  great  exigencies  intrusted  to  his  hands. 
Where  did  he  get  his  style?  Ask  Shakespeare  and  Burns 
where  they  got  their  style.  Where  did  he  get  his  grasp 
upon  affairs  and  his  knowledge  of  men?  Ask  the  Lord 
God  who  created  miracles  in  Luther  and  Bonaparte! 

What  was  the  mysterious-  power  of  this  mysterious 
man,  and  whence? 


ABRAHAM   LINCOLN  147 

___ — 

His  was  the  genius  of  common  sense;  of  common 
sense  in  action;  of  common  sense  in  thought;  of  com 
mon  sense  enriched  by  experience  and  unhindered  by 
fear.  "He  was  a  common  man,"  says  his  friend  Joshua 
Speed,  "expanded  into  giant  proportions;  well  ac 
quainted  with  the  people,  he  placed  his  hand  on  the 
beating  pulse  of  the  nation,  judged  of  its  disease,  and 
was  ready  with  a  remedy."  Inspired  he  was  truly,  as 
Shakespeare  was  inspired;  as  Mozart  was  inspired; 
as  Burns  was  inspired;  each,  like  him,  sprung  directly 
from  the  people. 

I  look  into  the  crystal  globe  that,  slowly  turning, 
tells  the  story  of  his  life,  and  I  see  a  little  heart  broken 
boy,  weeping  by  the  outstretched  form  of  a  dead 
mother,  then  bravely,  nobly  trudging  a  hundred  miles 
to  obtain  her  Christian  burial.  I  see  this  motherless 
lad  growing  to  manhood  amid  the  scenes  that  seem  to 
lead  to  nothing  but  abasement;  no  teachers;  no  books; 
no  chart,  except  his  own  untutored  mind;  no  compass, 
except  his  own  undisciplined  will;  no  light,  save  light 
from  Heaven;  yet,  like  the  caravel  of  Columbus, 
struggling  on  and  on  through  the  trough  of  the  sea, 
always  toward  the  destined  land.  I  see  the  full-grown 
man,  stalwart  and  brave,  an  athlete  in  activity  of 
movement  and  strength  of  limb,  yet  vexed  by  weird 
dreams  and  visions;  of  life,  of  love,  of  religion,  some 
times  verging  on  despair.  I  see  the  mind,  grown  as 
robust  as  the  body,  throw  off  these  phantoms  of  the 
imagination  and  give  itself  wholly  to  the  work-a-day 
uses  of  the  world;  the  rearing  of  children;  the  earning 
of  bread;  the  multiplied  duties  of  life.  I  see  the  party 


148  AMERICAN    PATRIOTISM 

leader,  self-confident  in  conscious  rectitude;  original, 
because  it  was  not  his  nature  to  follow;  potent,  be 
cause  he  was  fearless,  pursuing  his  convictions  with 
earnest  zeal,  and  urging  them  upon  his  fellows  with  the 
resources  of  an  oratory  which  was  hardly  more  im 
pressive  than  it  was  many-sided.  I  see  him,  the  pre 
ferred  among  his  fellows,  ascend  the  eminence  reserved 
for  him,  and  him  alone  of  all  the  statesmen  of  the  time, 
amid  the  derision  of  opponents  and  the  distrust  of 
supporters,  yet  unawed  and  unmoved,  because  thor 
oughly  equipped  to  meet  the  emergency.  The  same 
being,  from  first  to  last;  the  poor  child  weeping  over 
a  dead  mother;  the  great  chief  sobbing  amid  the  cruel 
horrors  of  war;  flinching  not  from  duty,  nor  changing 
his  life-long  ways  of  dealing  with  the  stern  realities 
which  pressed  upon  him  and  hurried  him  onward.  And, 
last  scene  of  all,  that  ends  this  strange,  eventful  his 
tory,  I  see  him  lying  dead  there  in  the  capitol  of  the 
nation,  to  which  he  had  rendered  "the  last,  full  meas 
ure  of  his  devotion,"  the  flag  of  his  country  around 
him,  the  world  in  mourning,  and,  asking  myself  how 
could  any  man  have  hated  that  man,  I  ask  you,  how 
can  any  man  refuse  his  homage  to  his  memory?  Surely, 
he  was  one  of  God's  elect;  not  in  any  sense  a  creature 
of  circumstance,  or  accident.  Recurring  to  the  doc 
trine  of  inspiration,  I  say  again  and  again,  he  was  in 
spired  of  God,  and  I  cannot  see  how  any  one  who  be 
lieves  in  that  doctrine  can  regard  him  as  anything  else. 
From  Caesar  to  Bismarck  and  Gladstone  the  world 
has  had  its  statesmen  and  its  soldiers— men  who  rose 
to  eminence  and  power  step  by  step,  through  a  series 
of  geometric  progression  as  it  were,  each  advancement 


ABRAHAM   LINCOLN  149 

following  in  regular  order  one  after  the  other,  the  whole 
obedient  to  well-established  and  well-understood  laws 
of  cause  and  effect.  They  were  not  what  we  call  "men 
of  destiny."  They  were  "men  of  the  time."  They 
were  men  whose  careers  had  a  beginning,  a  middle 
and  an  end,  rounding  off  lives  with  histories,  full  it 
may  be  of  interesting  and  exciting  event,  but  compre 
hensive  and  comprehensible;  simple,  clear,  complete. 

The  inspired  ones  are  fewer.  Whence  their  emana 
tion,  where  and  how  they  got  their  power,  by  what  rule 
they  lived,  moved  and  had  their  being,  we  know  not. 
There  is  no  explication  to  their  lives.  They  rose  from 
shadow  and  they  went  in  mist.  We  see  them,  feel  them, 
but  we  know  them  not.  They  came,  God's  word  upon 
their  lips;  they  did  their  office,  God's  mantle  about 
them;  and  they  vanished,  God's  holy  light  between 
the  world  and  them,  leaving  behind  a  memory,  half 
mortal  and  half  myth.  From  first  to  last  they  were 
the  creations  of  some  special  Providence,  baffling  the 
wit  of  man  to  fathom,  defeating  the  machinations  of 
the  world,  the  flesh  and  the  devil,  until  their  work  was 
done,  then  passing  from  the  scene  as  mysteriously  as 
they  had  come  upon  it. 

Tried  by  this  standard,  where  shall  we  find  an  ex 
ample  so  impressive  as  Abraham  Lincoln,  whose  career 
might  be  chanted  by  a  Greek  chorus  as  at  once  the  pre 
lude  and  the  epilogue  of  the  most  imperial  theme  of 
modern  times? 

Born  as  lowly  as  the  Son  of  God,  in  a  hovel;  reared 
in  penury,  squalor,  with  no  gleam  of  light  or  fair  sur 
rounding;  without  graces,  actual  or  acquired;  with- 

\MEKICA   FIRST — 10. 


150  AMERICAN   PATRIOTISM 

out  name  or  fame  or  official  training;  it  was  reserved 
for  this  strange  being,  late  in  life,  to  be  snatched  from 
obscurity,  raised  to  supreme  command  at  a  supreme 
moment,  and  intrusted  with  the  destiny  of  a  nation. 

The  great  leaders  of  his  party,  the  most  experienced 
and  accomplished  public  men  of  the  day,  were  made  to 
stand  aside;  were  sent  to  the  rear,  whilst  this  fantastic 
figure  was  led  by  unseen  hands  to  the  front  and  given 
the  reins  of  power.  It  is  immaterial  whether  we  were 
for  him,  or  against  him;  wholly  immaterial.  That, 
during  four  years,  carrying  with  them  such  a  weight  of 
responsibility  as  the  world  never  witnessed  before,  he 
filled  the  vast  space  allotted  him  in  the  eyes  and  actions 
of  mankind,  is  to  say  that  he  was  inspired  of  God,  for 
nowhere  else  could  he  have  acquired  the  wisdom  and 
the  virtue. 

Where  did  Shakespeare  get  his  genius?  Where  did 
Mozart  get  his  music?  Whose  hand  smote  the  lyre  of 
the  Scottish  plowman,  and  stayed  the  life  of  the  Ger 
man  priest?  God,  God,  and  God  alone;  and  as  surely 
as  these  were  raised  up  by  God,  inspired  by  God,  was 
Abraham  Lincoln;  and  a  thousand  years  hence,  no 
drama,  no  tragedy,  no  epic  poem  will  be  filled  with 
greater  wonder,  or  be  followed  by  mankind  with  deeper 
feeling  than  that  which  tells  the  story  of  his  life  and 
death. 


SECOND  INAUGURAL    ADDRESS 

Delivered  by  Abraham  Lincoln,  March  4,  1865,  on  the  occasion  of  his 
second  inauguration  as  president  of  the  United  States. 

FELLOW  COUNTRYMEN: — At  this  second  appearing  to 
take  the  oath  of  the  presidential  office,  there  is  less  oc 
casion  for  an  extended  address  than  there  was  at  the 
first.  Then  a  statement,  somewhat  in  detail,  of  a  course 
to  be  pursued,  seemed  fitting  and  proper.  Now,  at  the 
expiration  of  four  years,  during  which  public  declara 
tions  have  been  constantly  called  forth  on  every  point 
and  phase  of  the  great  contest,  which  still  absorbs  the 
attention  and  engrosses  the  energies  of  the  nation, 
little  that  is  new  could  be  presented.  The  progress  of 
our  arms,  upon  which  all  else  chiefly  depends,  is  as  well 
known  to  the  public  as  to  myself;  and  it  is,  I  trust, 
reasonably  satisfactory  and  encouraging  to  all.  With 
high  hope  for  the  future,  no  prediction  in  regard  to  it  is 
ventured, 

On  the  occasion  corresponding  to  this  four  years  ago 
ail  thoughts  were  anxiously  directed  to  an  impending 
civil  war.  All  dreaded  it — all  sought  to  avert  it.  While 
the  inaugural  address  was  being  delivered  from  this 
place,  devoted  altogether  to  saving  the  Union  without 
war,  insurgent  agents  were  in  the  city  seeking  to  de 
stroy  it  without  war — seeking  to  dissolve  the  Union, 
and  divide  effects,  by  negotiation.  Both  parties  dep 
recated  war;  but  one  of  them  would  make  war  rather 
than  let  the  nation  survive;  and  the  other  would  ac 
cept  war  rather  than  let  it  perish.  And  the  war  came. 

151 


152  AMERICAN   PATRIOTISM 

One  eighth  of  the  whole  population  were  colored 
slaves,  not  distributed  generally  over  the  Union,  but 
localized  in  the  Southern  part  of  it.  These  slaves  con 
stituted  a  peculiar  and  powerful  interest.  All  knew 
that  this  interest  was,  somehow,  the  cause  of  the  war. 
To  strengthen,  perpetuate,  and  extend  this  interest  was 
the  object  for  which  insurgents  would  rend  the  Union, 
even  by  war;  while  the  government  claimed  no  right 
to  do  more  than  to  restrict  the  territorial  enlargement 
of  it. 

Neither  party  expected  for  the  war  the  magnitude 
or  the  duration  which  it  has  already  attained.  Neither 
anticipated  that  the  cause  of  the  conflict  might  cease 
with,  or  even  before,  the  conflict  itself  should  cease. 
Each  looked  for  an  easier  triumph,  and  a  result  less 
fundamental  and  astounding.  Both  read  the  same 
Bible,  and  pray  to  the  same  God;  and  each  invokes 
his  aid  against  the  other.  It  may  seem  strange  that 
any  men  should  dare  to  ask  a  just  God's  assistance  in 
wringing  their  bread  from  the  sweat  of  other  men's 
faces;  but  let  us  judge  not,  that  we  be  not  judged. 
The  prayers  of  both  could  not  be  answered — that  of 
neither  has  been  answered  fully. 

The  Almighty  has  his  own  purposes.  "Woe  unto  the 
world  because  of  offenses!  for  it  must  needs  be  that 
offenses  come;  but  woe  to  that  man  by  whom  the  of 
fense  cometh."  If  we  shall  suppose  that  American 
slavery  is  one  of  those  offenses  which,  in  the  providence 
of  God,  must  needs  come,  but  which,  having  con 
tinued  through  his  appointed  time,  he  now  wills  to 
remove,  and  that  he  gives  to  both  North  and  South 


SECOND   INAUGURAL  ADDRESS  153 

this  terrible  war,  as  the  woe  due  to  those  by  whom  the 
offense  came,  shall  we  discern  therein  any  departure 
from  those  divine  attributes  which  the  believers  in  a 
living  God  always  ascribe  to  him?  Fondly  do  we  hope- 
fervently  do  we  pray — that  this  mighty  scourge  of  war 
may  speedily  pass  away.  Yet,  if  God  wills  that  it  con 
tinue  until  all  the  wealth  piled  by  the  bondman's  two 
hundred  and  fifty  years  of  unrequited  toil  shall  be  sunk, 
and  until  every  drop  of  blood  drawn  with  the  lash  shall 
be  paid  by  another  drawn  with  the  sword,  as  was  said 
three  thousand  years  ago,  so  still  it  must  be  said,  "The 
judgments  of  the  Lord  are  true  and  righteous  alto 
gether." 

With  malice  toward  none;  with  charity  for  all;  with 
firmness  in  the  right,  as  God  gives  us  to  see  the  right, 
let  us  strive  on  to  finish  the  work  we  are  in;  to  bind  up 
the  nation's  wounds;  to  care  for  him  who  shall  have 
borne  the  battle,  and  for  his  widow  and  his  orphan — 
to  do  all  which  may  achieve  and  cherish  a  just  and 
lasting  peace  among  ourselves  and  with  all  nations. 


ROBERT  E.  LEE 

The  following  extracts  are  taken  from  the  great  lecture1  of  E.  Benjamin 
Andrews  on  "Robert  E.  Lee."  Dr.  Andrews  was  president  of  Brown 
University  1889-1898,  superintendent  of  the  Public  Schools  of  Chicago 
1898-1900,  chancellor  of  the  University  of  Nebraska  1900-1908,  and 
since  1909  has  been  chancellor  emeritus  of  that  institution.  He  served 
as  a  priva'e,  and  later  as  second  lieutenant  in  the  Union  army  during 
the  Civil  War.  He  was  wounded  at  Petersburg,  losing  an  eye.  Probably 
no  better  characterization  or  higher  tribute  has  ever  been  made  of  Robert 
E.  Lee  than  that  by  Dr.  Andrews  in  this  lecture  which  was  as  enthusias 
tically  received  by  the  Union  veterans  of  the  North  as  by  the  Confederate 
veterans  of  the  South;  for,  as  Dr.  Andrews  says  in  his  tribute  to  Lee, 
"None  are  prouder  of  his  record  than  those  who  fought  against  him,  who 
while  recognizing  the  purity  of  his  motive,  thought  him  in  error  in  going 
from  under  the  stars  and  stripes." 

Robert  Edward  Lee  had  perhaps  a  more  illustrious 
traceable  lineage  than  any  American  not  of  his  family. 
His  ancestor,  Lionel  Lee,  crossed  the  English  Channel 
with  William  the  Conqueror.  Another  scion  of  the 
clan  fought  beside  Richard  the  Lion-hearted  at  Acre 
in  the  Third  Crusade.  To  Richard  Lee,  the  great 
land  owner  on  Northern  Neck,  the  Virginia  Colony 
was  much  indebted  for  royal  recognition.  His  grand 
son,  Henry  Lee,  was  the  grandfather  of  "Light-horse 
Harry"  Lee  of  Revolutionary  fame,  who  was  the 
father  of  Robert  Edward  Lee. 

Robert  E.  Lee  was  born  on  January  19,  1807,  in 
Westmoreland  County,  Va.,  the  same  county  that 

'This  lecture  is  found  in  full  in  Vol.  XII  (1915  Edition)  of  "Beacon 
Lights  of  History,"  copyright  1902  by  the  publishers,  Fords,  Howard 
&  Hulbert,  and  is  here  used  by  special  permission  of  Dr.  Andrews  and 
his  publishers. 

154 


HUBERT    E.    LEE  155 

gave  to  the  world  George  Washington  and  James 
Monroe.  Though  he  was  fatherless  at  eleven,  the 
father's  blood  in  him  inclined  him  to  the  profession 
of  arms,  and  when  eighteen, — in  1825, —  on  an  ap 
pointment  obtained  for  him  by  General  Andrew 
Jackson,  he  entered  the  Military  Academy  at  West 
Point.  He  graduated  in  1829,  being  second  in  rank 
in  a  class  of  forty-six.  Among  his  classmates  were 
two  men  whom  one  delights  to  name  with  him— 
Ormsby  M.  Mitchel,  later  a  general  in  the  Federal 
army,  and  Joseph  E.  Johnston,  the  famous  Confederate. 
Lee  was  at  once  made  Lieutenant  of  Engineers,  but, 
till  the  Mexican  War,  attained  only  a  captaincy. 
This  was  conferred  on  him  in  1838. 

In  1831  Lee  had  been  married  to  Miss  Mary  Ran 
dolph  Custis,  the  grand  daughter  of  Mrs.  George 
Washington.  By  this  marriage  he  became  possessor 
of  the  beautiful  estate  at  Arlington,  opposite  Wash 
ington,  his  home  till  the  Civil  War.  The  union, 
blessed  by  seven  children,  was  in  all  respects  most 
happy. 

In  his  prime  Lee  was  spoken  of  as  the  handsomest 
man  in  the  army.  He  was  about  six  feet  high,  per 
fectly  built,  healthy,  fond  of  outdoor  life,  enthusiastic 
in  his  profession,  gentle,  dignified,  studious,  broad- 
minded,  and  positively,  though  unobtrusively,  re 
ligious.  If  he  had  faults,  which  those  nearest  him 
doubted,  they  were  excess  of  modesty  and  excess  of 
tenderness. 

During  the  Mexican  War,  Captain  Lee  directed  all 
the  most  important  engineering  operations  of  the 


156  AMERICAN   PATRIOTISM 

American  army — a  work  vital  to  its  wonderful  suc 
cess.  Already  at  the  siege  of  Vera  Cruz,  General 
Scott  mentioned  him  as  having  "greatly  distinguished 
himself."  He  was  prominent  in  all  the  operations 
thence  to  Cerro  Gordo,  where,  in  April,  1847,  he  was 
brevetted  major.  Both  at  Contreras  and  at  Churu- 
busco  he  was  credited  with  gallant  and  meritorious 
services.  At  the  charge  up  Chapul tepee,  in  which 
Joseph  E.  Johnston,  George  B.  McClellan,  George 
E.  Pickett,  and  Thomas  J.  Jackson  participated,  Lee 
bore  Scott's  orders  to  all  points  until  from  loss  of 
blood  by  a  wound,  and  from  the  loss  of  two  nights' 
sleep  at  the  batteries,  he  actually  fainted  away  in 
the  discharge  of  his  duty.  Such  ability  and  devotion 
brought  him  home  from  Mexico  bearing  the  brevet 
rank  of  colonel.  General  Scott  had  learned  to  think 
of  him  as  "the  greatest  military  genius  in  America." 

In  1852  Lee  was  made  superintendent  of  the  West 
Point  Military  Academy.  In  1855  he  was  com 
missioned  lieutenant-colonel  of  Col.  Albert  Sidney 
Johnston's  new  cavalry  regiment,  just  raised  to  serve 
in  Texas.  March,  1861,  saw  him  colonel  of  the 
First  United  States  Cavalry.  With  the  possible 
exception  of  the  two  Johnstons,  he  was  now  the  most 
promising  candidate  for  General  Scott's  position 
whenever  that  venerable  hero  vacated  it,  as  he  was 
sure  to  do  soon. 

Lee  was  a  Virginian,  and  Virginia,  about  to  secede 
and  at  length  seceding,  in  most  earnest  tones  besought 
her  distinguished  son  to  join  her.  It  seemed  to  him 
the  call  of  duty,  and  that  call,  as  he  understood  it, 


ROBERT    E.    LEE  157 

was  one  which  it  was  not  in  him  to  disobey.  Presi 
dent  Lincoln  knew  the  value  of  the  man,  and  sent 
Frank  Blair  to  him  to  say  that  if  he  would  abide 
by  the  Union  he  should  soon  command  the  whole 
active  army.  That  would  probably  have  meant  his 
election,  in  due  time,  to  the  presidency  of  his  country. 
"For  God's  sake  don't  resign,  Lee!"  General  Scott— 
himself  a  Virginian — is  said  to  have  pleaded.  He 
replied:  "I  am  compelled  to;  I  cannot  consult  my 
own  feelings  in  the  matter."  Accordingly,  three  days 
after  Virginia  passed  its  ordinance  of  secession,  Lee 
sent  to  Simon  Cameron,  Secretary  of  War,  his  res 
ignation  as  an  officer  in  the  United  States  army. 

Few  at  the  North  were  able  to  understand  the 
secession  movement,  most  denying  that  a  man  at 
once  thoughtful  and  honorable  could  join  in  it.  So 
centralized  had  the  North  by  1861  become  in  all 
social  and  economic  particulars,  that  centrality  in 
government  was  taken  as  a  matter  of  course.  Repre 
senting  this,  the  nation  was  deemed  paramount  to 
any  state.  Governmental  sovereignty,  like  travel 
and  trade,  had  come  to  ignore  state  lines.  The  whole 
idea  and  feeling  of  state  sovereignty,  once  as  potent 
North  as  South,  had  vanished  and  been  forgotten. 

Far  otherwise  at  the  South,  where,  owing  to  the 
great  size  of  states  and  to  the  paucity  of  railways 
and  telegraphs,  interstate  association  was  not  yet  a 
force.  Each  state,  being  in  square  miles  ample 
enough  for  an  empire,  retained  to  a  great  extent  the 
consciousness  of  an  independent  nation.  The  state 
was  near  and  palpable;  the  central  government 


158  AMERICAN    PATRIOTISM 

seemed  a  vague  and  distant  thing.  Loyalty  was  con 
ceived  as  binding  one  primarily  to  one's  own  state. 

It  is  a  misconception  to  explain  this  feeling — for 
in  most  cases  it  was  feeling  rather  than  reasoned  con 
viction — by  Calhoun's  teaching.  It  resulted  from 
geography  and  history,  and,  these  factors  working 
as  they  did,  would  have  been  what  it  was  had  Calhoun 
never  lived.  These  considerations  explain  how  Colonel 
Lee,  certainly  one  of  the  most  conscientious  men  who 
ever  lived,  felt  bound  in  duty  and  honor  to  side 
with  seceding  Virginia,  though  he  doubted  the  wisdom 
of  her  course. 

Most  striking  among  the  characteristics  of  General 
Lee  which  made  him  so  successful  was  his  exalted 
and  unmatched  excellence  as  a  man,  his  unselfishness, 
sweetness,  gentleness,  patience,  love  of  justice,  and 
general  elevation  of  soul.  Lee  much  loved  to  quote 
Sir  William  Hamilton's  words:  "On  earth  nothing 
great  but  man:  in  man  nothing  great  but  mind." 
He  always  added,  however:  "In  mind  nothing  great 
save  devotion  to  truth  and  duty."  Though  a  soldier, 
and  at  last  very  eminent  as  a  soldier,  he  retained  from 
the  beginning  to  the  end  of  his  career  the  entire  temper 
and  character  of  an  ideal  civilian.  He  did  not  sink 
the  man  in  the  military  man.  He  had  all  a  soldier's 
virtues,  the  "chevalier  without  fear  and  without 
reproach,"  but  he  was  glorified  by  a  whole  galaxy  of 
excellences  which  soldiers  too  often  lack.  He  was 
pure  of  speech  and  of  habit,  never  intemperate,  never 
obscene,  never  profane,  never  irreverent.  In  domestic 
life  he  was  an  absolute  model.  Lofty  command  did 
not  make  him  vain. 


ROBERT  E.  LEE 


(159) 


160  AMERICAN   PATRIOTISM 

That  Lee  was  brave  need  not  be  said.  He  was  not 
as  rash  as  Hood  and  Cleburne  sometimes  were.  He 
knew  the  value  of  his  life  to  the  great  cause,  and, 
usually  at  least,  did  not  expose  himself  needlessly. 
Prudence  he  had,  but  no  fear.  His  resolution  to  lead 
the  charge  at  the  Bloody  Angle — rashness  at  once— 
shows  fearlessness.  Tender-hearted  as  he  was,  Lee 
felt  battle  frenzy  as  hardly  another  great  commander 
ever  did.  From  him  it  spread  like  magnetism  to  his 
officers  and  men,  thrilling  all  as  if  the  chief  himself 
were  close  by  in  the  fray,  shouting,  "Now  fight,  my 
good  fellows,  fight!"  Yet  such  was  Lee's,  self-com 
mand  that  this  ardor  never  carried  him  too  far. 

But  Lee  possessed  another  order  of  courage  infinitely 
higher  and  rarer  than  this — the  sort  so  often  lacking 
even  in  generals  who  have  served  with  utmost  dis 
tinction  in  high  subordinate  places,  when  they  are 
called  to  the  sole  and  decisive  direction  of  armies: 
he  had  that  royal  mettle,  that  preternatural  decision 
of  character,  ever  tempered  with  caution  and  wisdom, 
which  leads  a  great  commander,  when  true  occasion 
arises,  resolutely  to  give  general  battle,  or  a  swing 
out  away  from  his  base  upon  a  precarious  but  promis 
ing  campaign.  Here  you  have  moral  heroism;  or 
dinary  valor  is  more  impulsive.  A  weaker  man, 
albeit  total  stranger  to  fear,  ready  to  lead  his  division 
or  his  corps  into  the  very  mouth  of  hell,  if  commanded, 
being  set  himself  to  direct  an  army,  will  be  either 
rash  or  else  too  timid,  or  fidget  from  one  extreme  to 
the  other,  losing  all. 

It  was  in  this  supreme  kind  of  boldness  that  Robert 


ROBERT   E.    LEE  161 

Lee  preeminently  excelled.  Cautious  always,  he 
still  took  risks  and  responsibilities  which  common 
generals  would  not  have  dared  to  take,  and  when  he 
had  assumed  these,  his  mighty  will  forbade  him  to 
sink  under  the  load.  The  braying  of  bitter  critics, 
the  obloquy  of  men  who  should  have  supported 
him,  the  shots  from  behind,  dismayed  him  no  more 
than  did  Burnside's  cannon  at  Fredericksburg.  On 
he  pressed,  stout  as  a  Titan,  relentless  as  fate.  What 
time  bravest  hearts  failed  at  victory's  delay,  this 
Dreadnaught  rose  to  his  best,  and  furnished  courage 
for  the  whole  Confederacy. 

In  a  sense,  of  course,  the  cause  for  which  Lee  fought 
was  "lost";  yet  a  very  great  part  of  what  he  and  his 
confreres  sought,  the  war  actually  secured  and  assured. 
His  cause  was  not  "lost"  as  Hannibal's  was,  whose 
country,  with  its  institutions,  spite  of  his  genius  and 
devotion,  utterly  perished  from  the  earth.  Yet 
Hannibal  is  remembered  more  widely  than  Scipio. 
Were  Lee  in  the  same  case  with  Hannibal,  men  would 
magnify  his  name  as  long  as  history  is  read.  "Of 
illustrious  men,"  says  Thucydides,  "  the  whole  earth 
is  the  sepulcher.  They  are  immortalized  not  alone  by 
columns  and  inscriptions  in  their  own  lands ;  memorials 
to  them  rise  in  foreign  countries  as  well — not  of  stone, 
it  may  be,  but  unwritten,  in  the  thoughts  of  posterity." 

Lee's  case  resembles  Cromwell's  much  more  than 
Hannibal's.  The  regime  against  which  Cromwell 
warred  returned  in  spite  of  him;  but  it  returned 
modified,  involving  all  the  reforms  for  which  the 
chieftain  had  bled.  So  the  best  of  what  Lee  drew 


162  AMERICAN    PATRIOTISM 

sword  for  is  here  in  our  actual  America,  and,  please 
God,  shall  remain  here  forever. 

Decisions  of  the  United  States  Supreme  Court  since 
Secession  gave  a  sweep  and  a  certainty  to  the  rights  of 
states  and  limit  the  central  power  in  this  republic 
as  had  never  been  done  before.  The  wild  doctrines 
of,  Sumner  and  Thaddeus  Stevens  on  these  points 
are  not  our  law.  If  the  Union  is  perpetual,  equally 
so  is  each  state.  The  republic  is  "an  indestructible 
Union  of  indestructible  states."  If  this  part  of  our 
law  had  in  1861  received  its  present  definition  and 
emphasis,  and  if  the  Southern  States  had  then  been 
sure,  come  what  might,  of  the  freedom  they  actually 
now  enjoy  each  to  govern  itself  in  its  own  way,  even 
South  Carolina  might  never  have  voted  secession. 
And  inasmuch  as  the  war,  better  than  aught  else  could 
have  done,  forced  this  phase  of  the  Constitution  out 
into  clear  expression,  General  Lee  did  not  fight  in 
vain.  The  essential  good  he  wished  has  come,  while 
the  republic  with  its  priceless  benedictions  to  us  all 
remains  intact.  All  Americans  thus  have  part  in 
Robert  Lee,  not  only  as  a  peerless  man  and  soldier, 
but  as  the  sturdy  miner,  sledge-hammering  the  rock 
of  our  liberties  till  it  give  forth  its  gold.  None  are 
prouder  of  his  record  than  those  who  fought  against 
him,  who,  while  recognizing  the  purity  of  his  motive, 
thought  him  in  error  in  going  from  under  the  stars 
and  stripes.  It  is  likely  that  more  American  hearts 
day  by  day  think  lovingly  of  Lee  than  of  any  other 
Civil  War  celebrity  save  Lincoln  alone,  And  his 
praise  will  increase. 


OUR    REUNITED  COUNTRY 

Speech  of  Clark  Howell  at  the  Peace  Jubilee  Banquet  in  Chicago,  Octo 
ber  19,  1898.  in  response  to  the  toast  "Our  lleunited  Country:  North  and 
South." 

MR.     TOASTMASTER,     AND     MY      FELLOW     CoUNTRY- 

MEN: — In  the  mountains  of  my  state,  in  a  county  re 
mote  from  the  quickening  touch  of  commerce,  and 
railroads  and  telegraphs — so  far  removed  that  the 
sincerity  of  its  rugged  people  flows  unpolluted  from  the 
spring  of  nature — two  vine-covered  mounds,  nestling 
in  the  solemn  silence  of  a  country  churchyard,  suggest 
the  text  of  my  response  to  the  sentiment  to  which  I 
am  to  speak  to-night.  A  serious  text,  Mr.  Toast- 
master,  for  an  occasion  like  this,  and  yet  out  of  it 
there  is  life  and  peace  and  hope  and  prosperity,  for 
in  the  solemn  sacrifice  of  the  voiceless  grave  can  the 
chiefest  lesson  of  the  Republic  be  learned,  and  the 
destiny  of  its  real  mission  be  unfolded.  So,  bear  with 
me  while  I  lead  you  to  the  rust-stained  slab,  which  for 
a  third  of  a  century — since  Chickamauga — has  been 
kissed  by  the  sun  as  it  peeped  over  the  Blue  Ridge, 
melting  the  tears  with  which  the  mourning  night  had 
bedewed  the  inscription: — 

"Here  lies  a  Confederate  soldier. 
He  died  for  his  country." 

The  September  day  which  brought  the  body  of  this 
mountain  hero  to  that  home  among  the  hills  which 
had  smiled  upon  his  infancy,  been  gladdened  by  his 

163 


1C4  AMERICAN   PATRIOTISM 

youth,  and  strengthened  by  his  manhood,  was  an  ever 
memorable  one  with  the  sorrowing  concourse  of  friends 
and  neighbors  who  followed  his  shot-riddled  body  to 
the  grave.  And  of  that  number  no  man  gainsaid  the 
honor  of  his  death,  lacked  full  loyalty  to  the  flag  for 
which  he  fought,  or  doubted  the  justice  of  the  cause 
for  which  he  gave  his  life. 

Thirty-five  years  have  passed;  another  war  has 
called  its  roll  of  martyrs;  again  the  old  bell  tolls  from 
the  crude  latticed  tower  of  the  settlement  church; 
another  great  pouring  of  sympathetic  humanity,  and 
this  time  the  body  of  a  son,  wrapped  in  the  stars  and 
stripes,  is  lowered  to  its  everlasting  rest  beside  that  of 
the  father  who  sleeps  in  the  stars  and  bars. 

There  were  those  there  who  stood  by  the  grave  of 
the  Confederate  hero  years  before,  and  the  children 
of  those  were  there,  and  of  those  present  no  one  gain 
said  the  honor  of  the  death  of  this  hero  of  El  Caney, 
and  none  were  there  but  loved,  as  patriots  alone  can 
love,  the  glorious  flag  that  enshrines  the  people  of  a 
common  country  as  it  enshrouds  the  form  that  will 
sleep  forever  in  its  blessed  folds.  And  on  this  tomb 
will  be  written: 

"Here  lies  the  son  of  a  Confederate  soldier, 
He  died  for  his  country." 

And  so  it  is  that  between  the  making  of  these  two 
graves  human  hands  and  human  hearts  have  reached 
a  solution  of  the  vexed  problem  that  has  baffled  human 
will  and  human  thought  for  three  decades.  Sturdy 
sons  of  the  South  have  said  to  their  brothers  of  the 


OUR  REUNITED  COUNTRY  165 

North  that  the  people  of  the  South  had  long  since  ac 
cepted  the  arbitrament  of  the  sword  to  which  they  had 
appealed.  And  likewise  the  oft-repeated  message  has 
come  back  from  the  North  that  peace  and  good  will 
reigned,  and  that  the  wounds  of  civil  dissention  were 
but  as  sacred  memories.  Good  fellowship  was  wafted 
on  the  wings  of  commerce  and  development  from  those 
who  had  worn  the  blue  to  those  who  had  worn  the  gray. 
Nor  were  these  messages  delivered  in  vain,  for  they 
served  to  pave  the  way  for  the  complete  and  absolute 
elimination  of  the  line  of  sectional  differences  by  the 
only  process  by  which  such  a  result  was  possible.  The 
sentiment  of  the  great  majority  of  the  people  of  the 
South  was  rightly  spoken  in  the  message  of  the  im 
mortal  Hill,  and  in  the  burning  eloquence  of  Henry 
Grady — both  Georgians — the  record  of  whose  blessed 
work  for  the  restoration  of  peace  between  the  sections 
becomes  a  national  heritage,  and  whose  names  are 
stamped  in  enduring  impress  upon  the  affection  of  the 
people  of  the  Republic. 

And  yet  there  were  still  those  among  us  who  be 
lieved  your  course  was  polite,  but  insincere,  and  those 
among  you  who  assumed  that  our  professed  attitude 
was  sentimental  and  unreal.  Bitterness  had  departed, 
and  sectional  hate  was  no  more,  but  there  were  those 
who  feared,  even  if  they  did  not  believe,  that  between 
the  great  sections  of  our  greater  government  there 
was  not  the  perfect  faith  and  trust  and  love  that  both 
professed;  that  there  was  want  of  the  faith  that  made 
the  American  Revolution  a  successful  possibility;  that 
that  there  was  want  of  the  trust  that  crystallized  our 

AMERICA   FIRST — 11. 


166  AMERICAN    PATRIOTISM 

States  into  the  original  Union;  that  there  was  lack  of 
the  love  that  bound  in  unassailable  strength  the  united 
sisterhood  of  States  that  withstood  the  shock  of  Civil 
War.  It  is  true  this  doubt  existed  to  a  greater  degree 
abroad  than  at  home.  But  to-day  the  mist  of  un 
certainty  has  been  swept  away  by  the  sunlight  of 
events,  and  there,  where  doubt  obscured  before  stands 
in  bold  relief,  commanding  the  admiration  of  the  whole 
world,  the  most  glorious  type  of  united  strength  and 
sentiment  and  loyalty  known  to  the  history  of  nations. 

Out  of  the  chaos  of  that  civil  war  had  risen  a  new 
nation,  mighty  in  the  vastness  of  its  limitless  resources, 
the  realities  within  its  reach  surpassing  the  dreams  of 
fiction,  and  eclipsing  the  fancy  of  fable — a  new  nation, 
yet  rosy  in  the  flesh,  with  the  bloom  of  youth  upon  its 
cheeks  and  the  gleam  of  morning  in  its  eyes.  No  one 
questioned  that  commercial  and  geographic  union  had 
been  effected.  So  had  Rome  reunited  its  faltering 
provinces,  maintaining  the  limit  of  its  imperial  juris 
diction  by  the  power  of  commercial  bonds  and  the 
majesty  of  the  sword,  until  in  its  very  vastness  it  col 
lapsed.  The  heart  of  its  people  did  not  beat  in  unison. 
Nations  may  be  made  by  the  joining  of  hands,  but  the 
measure  of  their  real  strength  and  vitality,  like  that 
of  the  human  body,  is  in  the  heart.  Show  me  the  coun 
try  whose  people  are  not  at  heart  in  sympathy  with  its 
institutions,  and  the  fervor  of  whose  patriotism  is  not 
bespoken  in  its  flag,  and  I  will  show  you  a  ship  of  state 
which  is  sailing  in  shallow  waters,  toward  unseen  ed 
dies  of  uncertainty,  if  not  to  the  open  rocks  of  dis 
memberment. 


OUR  REUNITED  COUNTRY  167 

Whence  was  the  proof  to  come,  to  ourselves  as  well 
as  to  the  world,  that  we  were  being  moved  once  again 
by  a  common  impulse,  and  by  the  same  heart  that  in 
spired  and  gave  strength  to  the  hands  that  smote  the 
British  in  the  days  of  the  Revolution,  and  again  at 
New  Orleans;  that  made  our  ships  the  masters  of  the 
seas;  that  placed  our  flag  on  Chapultepec,  and  widened 
our  domain  from  ocean  to  ocean?  How  was  the  world 
to  know  that  the  burning  fires  of  patriotism,  so  essen 
tial  to  national  glory  and  achievement,  had  not  been 
quenched  by  the  blood  spilled  by  the  heroes  of  both 
sides  of  the  most  desperate  struggle  known  in  the  his 
tory  of  civil  wars?  How  was  the  doubt  that  stood,  all 
unwilling,  between  outstretched  hands  and  sympa 
thetic  hearts,  to  be,  in  fact,  dispelled? 

If  from  out  the  caldron  of  conflict  there  arose  this 
doubt,  only  from  the  crucible  of  war  could  come  the 
answer.  And,  thank  God,  that  answer  has  been  made 
in  the  record  of  the  war,  the  peaceful  termination 
of  which  we  celebrate  to-night.  Read  it  in  every  page 
of  its  history;  read  it  in  the  obliteration  of  party 
and  sectional  lines  in  the  congressional  action  which 
called  the  nation  to  arms  in  the  defense  of  prostrate 
liberty,  and  for  the  extension  of  the  sphere  of  human 
freedom;  read  it  in  the  conduct  of  the  distinguished 
Federal  soldier  who,  as  the  chief  executive  of  this  great 
republic,1  honors  this  occasion  by  his  presence  to 
night,  and  whose  appointments  in  the  first  commissions 
issued  after  war  had  been  declared  made  manifest  the 
sincerity  of  his  often  repeated  utterances  of  complete 

1  William  McKinley. 


168  AMERICAN    PATRIOTISM 

sectional  reconciliation  and  the  elimination  of  sec 
tional  lines  in  the  affairs  of  government.  Differing 
with  him,  as  I  do,  on  party  issues,  utterly  at  variance 
with  the  views  of  his  party  on  economic  problems,  I 
sanction  with  all  my  heart  the  obligation  that  rests 
on  every  patriotic  citizen  to  make  party  second  to 
country,  and  in  the  measure  that  he  has  been  actuated 
by  this  broad  and  patriotic  policy  he  will  receive  the 
plaudits  of  the  whole  people:  "Well  done,  good  and 
faithful  servant." 

Portentous  indeed  have  been  the  developments  of 
the  past  six  months;  the  national  domain  has  been 
extended  far  into  the  Caribbean  Sea  on  the  south, 
and  to  the  west  it  is  so  near  the  mainland  of  Asia  that 
we  can  hear  grating  of  the  process  which  is  grinding 
the  ancient  celestial  empire  into  pulp  for  the  machinery 
of  civilization  and  of  progress. 

But  speaking  as  a  Southerner  and  an  American,  I 
say  that  this  has  been  as  naught  compared  to  the 
greatest  good  this  war  has  accomplished.  Drawing 
alike  from  all  sections  of  the  Union  for  her  heroes  and 
her  martyrs,  depending  alike  upon  North,  South,  East 
and  West  for  her  glorious  victories,  and  weeping  with 
sympathy  with  the  widows  and  the  stricken  mothers 
wherever  they  may  be,  America,  incarnated  spirit  of 
liberty,  stands  again  to-day  the  holy  emblem  of  a 
household  in  which  the  children  abide  in  unity,  equal 
ity,  love  and  peace.  The  iron  sledge  of  war  that  rent 
asunder  the  links  of  loyalty  and  love  has  welded  them 
together  again.  Ears  that  were  deaf  to  loving  appeals 
for  the  burial  of  sectional  strife  have  listened  and  be- 


OUR  REUNITED  COUNTRY  169 

lieved  when  the  muster  guns  have  spoken.  Hearts 
that  were  cold  to  calls  for  trust  and  sympathy  have 
awakened  to  loving  confidence  in  the  baptism  of  their 
blood. 

Drawing  inspiration  from  the  flag  of  our  country, 
the  South  has  shared  not  only  the  dangers,  but  the 
glories  of  the  war.  In  the  death  of  brave  young  Bagley 
at  Cardenas,  North  Carolina  furnished  the  first  blood 
in  the  tragedy.  It  was  Victor  Blue  of  South  Carolina, 
who,  like  the  Swamp  Fox  of  the  Revolution,  crossed 
the  fiery  path  of  the  enemy  at  his  pleasure,  and  brought 
the  first  official  tidings  of  the  situation  as  it  existed  in 
Cuba.  It  was  Brumby,  a  Georgia  boy,  the  flag  lieu 
tenant  of  Dewey,  who  first  raised  the  stars  and  stripes 
over  Manila.  It  was  Alabama  that  furnished  Hob- 
son  who  accomplished  two  things  the  Spanish  navy 
never  yet  has  done — sunk  an  American  ship,  and 
made  a  Spanish  man-of-war  securely  float. 

The  South  answered  the  call  to  arms  with  its  heart, 
arid  its  heart  goes  out  with  that  of  the  North  in  re 
joicing  at  the  result.  The  demonstration  lacking  to 
give  the  touch  of  life  to  the  picture  has  been  made. 
The  open  sesame  that  was  needed  to  give  insight  into 
the  true  and  loyal  hearts  both  North  and  South  has 
been  spoken.  Divided  by  war,  we  are  united  as  never 
before  by  the  same  agency,  and  the  union  is  of  hearts 
as  well  as  hands. 

The  doubter  may  scoff,  and  the  pessimist  may  croak, 
but  even  they  must  take  hope  at  the  picture  presented 
in  the  simple  and  touching  incident  of  eight  Grand 
Army  veterans,  with  their  silvery  heads  bowed  in 


170  AMERICAN   PATRIOTISM 

sympathy,  escorting  the  lifeless  body  of  the  Daughter 
of  the  Confederacy  from  Narragansett  to  its  last, 
long  rest  at  Richmond. 

When  that  great  and  generous  soldier,  U.  S.  Grant, 
gave  back  to  Lee,  crushed,  but  ever  glorious,  the  sword 
he  had  surrendered  at  Appomattox,  that  magnanimous 
deed  said  to  the  people  of  the  South:  "You  are  our 
brothers."  But  when  the  present  ruler  of  our  grand 
republic  on  awakening  to  the  condition  of  war  that 
confronted  him,  with  his  first  commission  placed  the 
leader's  sword  in  the  hands  of  those  gallant  confed 
erate  commanders,  Joe  Wheeler  and  Fitzhugh  Lee, 
he  wrote  between  the  lines  in  living  letters  of  ever 
lasting  light  the  words:  "There  is  but  one  people  of 
this  Union,  one  flag  alone  for  all." 

The  South,  Mr.  Toastmaster,  will  feel  that  her  sons 
have  been  well  given,  that  her  blood  has  been  well 
spilled,  if  that  sentiment  is  to  be  indeed  the  true  in 
spiration  of  our  nation's  future.  God  grant  it  may  be 
as  I  believe  it  will. 


THE  BLUE  AND  THE    GRAY 

Speech  of  Henry  Cabot  Lodge,  delivered  at  a  banquet  complimentary 
to  the  Robert  E.  Lee  Camp  of  Confederate  Veterans,  of  Richmond,  Va., 
given  in  Faneuil  Hall,  Boston,  June  17,  1887.  The  Southerners  were  visit 
ing  Boston  as  the  special  guests  of  the  John  A.  Andrew  Post  15,  Department 
of  Massachusetts,  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic. 

MR.  CHAIRMAN: — To  such  a  toast,  sir,  it  would  seem 
perhaps  most  fitting  that  one  of  those  should  respond 
who  were  a  part  of  the  great  event  which  it  recalls. 
Yet,  after  all,  on  an  occasion  like  this,  it  may  not  be 
amiss  to  call  upon  one  who  belongs  to  a  generation  to 
whom  the  Rebellion  is  little  more  than  history,  and 
who,  however  insufficiently,  represents  the  feelings  of 
that  and  the  succeeding  generations  as  to  our  great 
Civil  War.  I  was  a  boy  ten  years  old  when  the  troops 
marched  away  to  defend  Washington,  and  my  personal 
knowledge  of  that  time  is  confined  to  a  few  broken  but 
vivid  memories.  I  saw  the  troops,  month  after  month, 
pour  through  the  streets  of  Boston,  I  saw  Shaw  go 
forth  at  the  head  of  his  black  regiment,  and  Bartlett, 
shattered  in  body  but  dauntless  in  soul,  ride  by  to 
carry  what  was  left  of  him  once  more  to  the  battlefields 
of  the  republic.  I  saw  Andrew,  standing  bare  headed 
on  the  steps  of  the  state  house,  bid  the  men  God  speed. 
I  cannot  remember  the  words  he  said,  but  I  can  never 
forget  the  fervid  eloquence  which  brought  tears  to  the 
eyes  and  fire  to  the  hearts  of  all  who  listened.  I  un 
derstood  but  dimly  the  awful  meaning  of  these  events. 
To  my  boyish  mind  one  thing  alone  was  clear,  that  the 

171 


172  AMERICAN   PATRIOTISM 

soldiers  as  they  marched  past  were  all,  in  that  supreme 
hour,  heroes  and  patriots.  Amid  many  changes  that 
simple  belief  of  boyhood  has  never  altered.  The  grati 
tude  which  I  felt  then  I  confess  to-day  more  strongly 
than  ever.  But  other  feelings  have  in  the  progress  of 
time  altered  much.  I  have  learned,  and  others  of  my 
generation  as  they  came  to  man's  estate  haye  learned, 
what  the  war  really  meant,  and  they  have  also  learned 
to  know  and  to  do  justice  to  the  men  who  fought  the 
war  upon  the  other  side. 

I  do  not  stand  up  in  this  presence  to  indulge  in  any 
mock  sentimentality.  You  brave  men  who  wore  the 
gray  would  be  the  first  to  hold  me  or  any  other  son  of 
the  North  in  just  contempt  if  I  should  say  that,  now 
it  was  all  over,  I  thought  the  North  was  wrong  and  the 
result  of  the  war  a  mistake,  and  that  I  was  prepared 
to  suppress  my  political  opinions.  I  believe  most 
profoundly  that  the  war  on  our  side  was  eternally  right, 
that  our  victory  was  the  salvation  of  the  country,  and 
that  the  results  of  the  war  were  of  infinite  benefit  to 
both  North  and  South.  But  however  we  differed,  or 
still  differ,  as  to  the  causes  for  which  we  fought  then, 
we  accept  them  as  settled,  commit  them  to  history, 
and  fight  over  them  no  more.  To  the  men  who  fought 
the  battles  of  the  Confederacy  we  hold  out  our  hands 
freely,  frankly,  and  gladly.  To  courage  and  faith 
wherever  shown  we  bow  in  homage  with  uncovered 
heads.  We  respect  and  honor  the  gallantry  and  valor 
of  the  brave  men  who  fought  against  us,  and  who  gave 
their  lives  and  shed  their  blood  in  defense  of  what  they 
believed  to  be  right.  We  rejoice  that  the  famous  gen- 


THE  BLUE  AND  THE  GRAY  173 

eral  whose  name  is  borne  upon  your  banner  was  one  of 
the  greatest  soldiers  of  modern  times,  because  he,  too, 
was  an  American.  We  have  no  bitter  memories  to 
revive,  no  reproaches  to  utter.  Reconciliation  is  not 
to  be  sought,  because  it  exists  already.  Differ  in  poli 
tics  and  in  a  thousand  other  ways  we  must  and  shall 
in  all  good  nature,  but  let  us  never  differ  with  each 
other  on  sectional  or  State  lines,  by  race  or  creed. 

We  welcome  you,  soldiers  of  Virginia,  as  others  more 
eloquent  than  I  have  said,  to  New  England.  We  wel 
come  you  to  old  Massachusetts.  We  welcome  you  to 
Boston  and  to  Faneuil  Hall.  In  your  presence  here, 
and  at  the  sound  of  your  voices  beneath  this  historic 
roof,  the  years  roll  back  and  we  see  the  figure  and  hear 
again  the  ringing  tones  of  your  great  orator,  Patrick 
Henry,  declaring  to  the  first  Continental  Congress, 
'The  distinctions  between  Virginians,  Pennsylvanians, 
New  Yorkers,  and  New  Englanders  are  no  more.  I 
am  not  a  Virginian,  but  an  American."  A  distinguished 
Frenchman,  as  he  stood  among  the  graves  at  Arling 
ton,  said  "Only  a  great  people  is  capable  of  a  great 
civil  war."  Let  us  add  with  thankful  hearts  that  only 
a  great  people  is  capable  of  a  great  reconciliation. 
Side  by  side,  Virginia  and  Massachusetts  led  the  colo 
nies  into  the  War  for  Independence.  Side  by  side  they 
founded  the  government  of  the  United  States.  Mor 
gan  and  Greene,  Lee  and  Knox,  Moultrie  and  Pres- 
cott,  men  of  the  South  and  men  of  the  North,  fought 
shoulder  to  shoulder,  and  wore  the  same  uniform  of 
buff  and  blue — the  uniform  of  Washington. 

Your  presence  here  brings  back  their  noble  memories, 


174  AMERICAN    PATRIOTISM 

it  breathes  the  spirit  of  concord,  and  united  with  so 
many  other  voices  in  the  irrevocable  message  of  union 
and  good  will.  Mere  sentiment  all  this,  some  may  say. 
But  it  is  sentiment,  true  sentiment,  that  has  moved  the 
world.  Sentiment  fought  the  war,  and  sentiment  has 
re-united  us.  When  the  war  closed,  it  was  proposed 
in  the  newspapers  and  elsewhere  to  give  Governor 
Andrew,  who  had  sacrificed  health  and  strength  and 
property  in  his  public  duties,  some  immediately  lucra 
tive  office,  like  the  collectorship  of  the  port  of  Boston. 
A  friend  asked  him  if  he  would  take  such  a  place.  "No," 
said  he;  "I  have  stood  as  high  priest  between  the  horns 
of  the  altar,  and  I  have  poured  out  upon  it  the  best 
blood  of  Massachusetts,  and  I  cannot  take  money  for 
that."  Mere  sentiment,  truly,  but  the  sentiment 
which  ennobles  and  uplifts  mankind.  It  is  sentiment 
which  so  hallows  a  bit  of  torn,  stained  bunting,  that 
men  go  gladly  to  their  deaths  to  save  it.  So  I  say  that 
the  sentiment  manifested  by  your  presence  here,  breth 
ren  of  Virginia,  sitting  side  by  side  with  those  who 
wore  the  blue,  has  a  far-reaching  and  gracious  influence, 
of  more  value  than  many  practical  things.  It  tells  us 
that  these  two  grand  old  commonwealths,  parted  in 
the  shock  of  the  Civil  War,  are  once  more  side  by  side 
as  in  the  days  of  the  Revolution,  never  to  part  again. 
It  tells  us  that  the  sons  of  Virginia  and  Massachusetts, 
if  war  should  break  again  upon  the  country,  will,  as  in 
the  olden  days,  stand  once  more  shoulder  to  shoulder, 
with  no  distinction  in  the  colors  that  they  wear.  It  is 
fraught  with  tidings  of  peace  on  earth  and  you  may 
read  its  meaning  in  the  words  on  yonder  picture,  "Lib 
erty  and  Union,  now  and  forever,  one  and  inseparable." 


A  REMINISCENCE  OF  GETTYSBURG 

The  following  extract  is  taken  from  General  John  B.  Gordon's  great 
lecture,  "The  I^ast  Days  of  the  Confederacy,"  delivered  with  marked  effect 
throughout  the  country.  This  report  of  the  lecture  is  as  given  in  Brooklyn, 
N.  Y.,  February  7,  1901. 

But  now  to  Gettysburg.  That  great  battle  could  not 
be  described  in  the  space  of  a  lecture.  I  shall  select 
from  the  myriad  of  thrilling  incidents  which  rush  over 
my  memory  but  two.1  The  first  I  relate  because  it 
seems  due  to  one  of  the  bravest  and  knightliest  soldiers 
of  the  Union  army.  As  my  command  came  back  from 
the  Susquehanna  River  to  Gettysburg,  it  was  thrown 
squarely  on  the  right  flank  of  the  Union  army.  The 
fact  that  that  portion  of  the  Union  army  melted  was 
no  disparagement  either  of  its  courage  or  its  lofty 
American  manhood,  for  any  troops  that  had  ever  been 
marshaled,  the  Old  Guard  itself,  would  have  been  as 
surely  and  swiftly  shattered.  It  was  that  movement 
that  gave  to  the  Confederate  army  the  first  day's 
victory  at  Gettysburg;  and  as  I  rode  forward  over 
that  field  of  green  clover,  made  red  with  the  blood  of 
both  armies,  I  found  a  major-general  among  the  dead 
and  the  dying.  But  a  few  moments  before,  I  had  seen 
the  proud  form  of  that  magnificent  Union  officer  reel 
in  the  saddle  and  then  fall  in  the  white  smoke  of  the 
battle;  and  as  I  rode  by,  intensely  looking  into  his 
pale  face,  which  was  turned  to  the  broiling  rays  of 
that  scorching  July  sun,  I  discovered  that  he  was  not 

*But  one  of  these  incidents  is  given  in  this  extract. 

175 


176  AMERICAN   PATRIOTISM 

dead.  Dismounting  from  my  horse,  I  lifted  his  head 
with  one  hand,  gave  him  water  from  my  canteen,  in 
quired  his  name  and  if  he  was  badly  hurt.  He  was 
General  Francis  C.  Barlow,  of  New  York.  He  had  been 
shot  from  his  horse  while  grandly  leading  a  charge. 
The  ball  had  struck  him  in  front,  passed  through  the 
body  and  out  near  the  spinal  cord,  completely  para 
lyzing  him  in  every  limb;  neither  he  nor  I  supposed  he 
could  live  for  one  hour.  I  desired  to  remove  him  be 
fore  death  from  that  terrific  sun.  I  had  him  lifted 
on  a  litter  and  borne  to  the  shade  in  the  rear.  As  he 
bade  me  good-bye,  and  upon  my  inquiry  what  I  could 
do  for  him,  he  asked  me  to  take  from  his  pocket  a 
bunch  of  letters.  Those  letters  were  from  his  wife, 
and  as  I  opened  one  at  his  request,  and  as  his  eye 
caught,  as  he  supposed  for  the  last  time,  that  wife's 
signature,  the  great  tears  came  like  a  fountain  and 
rolled  down  his  pale  face;  and  he  said  to  me,  "Gen 
eral  Gordon,  you  are  a  Confederate;  I  am  a  Union 
soldier;  but  we  are  both  Americans;  if  you  should 
live  through  this  dreadful  war  and  ever  see  my  wife, 
will  you  not  do  me  the  kindness  to  tell  my  wife  for 
me  that  you  saw  me  on  this  field?  Tell  her  for  me,  that 
my  last  thought  on  earth  was  of  her;  tell  her  for  me 
that  you  saw  me  fall  in  this  battle,  and  that  her  hus 
band  fell,  not  in  the  rear,  but  at  the  head  of  his  col 
umn;  tell  her  for  me,  general,  that  I  freely  give  my 
life  to  my  country,  but  that  my  unutterable  grief  is 
that  I  must  now  go  without  the  privilege  of  seeing 
her  once  more,  and  bidding  her  a  long  and  loving  fare 
well."  I  at  once  said:  "Where  is  Mrs.  Barlow,  gen 
eral?  Where  could  I  find  her?"  for  I  was  determined 


A   REMINISCENCE   OF   GETTYSBURG  177 

that  wife  should  receive  that  gallant  husband's  mes 
sage.  He  replied:  "She  is  very  close  to  me;  she  is 
just  back  of  the  Union  line  of  battle  with  the  com- 
mander-in-chief  at  his  headquarters."  That  an 
nouncement  of  Mrs.  Barlow's  presence  with  the  Union 
army  struck  in  this  heart  of  mine  another  chord  of 
deepest  and  tenderest  sympathy;  for  my  wife  had 
followed  me,  sharing  with  me  the  privations  of  the 
camp,  the  fatigues  of  the  march;  again  and  again  was 
she  under  fire,  and  always  on  the  very  verge  of  the 
battle  was  that  devoted  wife  of  mine,  like  an  angel  of 
protection  and  an  inspiration  to  duty.  I  replied: 
"Of  course,  General  Barlow,  if  I  am  alive,  sir,  when 
this  day's  battle,  now  in  progress  is  ended — if  I  am 
not  shot  dead  before  the  night  comes — you  may  die 
satisfied  that  I  will  see  to  it  that  Mrs.  Barlow  has  your 
message  before  to-morrow's  dawn." 

And  I  did.  The  moment  the  guns  had  ceased  their 
roar  on  the  hills,  I  sent  a  flag  of  truce  with  a  note  to 
Mrs.  Barlow.  I  did  not  tell  her — I  did  not  have  the 
heart  to  tell  her  that  her  husband  was  dead,  as  I  be 
lieved  him  to  be;  but  I  did  tell  her  that  he  was  des 
perately  wounded,  a  prisoner  in  my  hands;  but  that 
she  should  have  safe  escort  through  my  lines  to  her 
husband's  side.  Late  that  night,  as  I  lay  in  the  open 
field  upon  my  saddle,  a  picket  from  my  front  announced 
a  lady  on  the  line.  She  was  Mrs.  Barlow.  She  had 
received  my  note  and  was  struggling,  under  the  guid 
ance  of  officers  of  the  Union  army,  to  penetrate  my 
lines  and  reach  her  husband's  side.  She  was  guided 
to  his  side  by  my  staff  during  the  night •>  Early  next 


178  AMERICAN   PATRIOTISM 

morning  the  battle  was  renewed,  and  the  following 
day,  and  then  came  the  retreat  of  Lee's  immortal 
army.  I  thought  no  more  of  that  gallant  son  of  the 
North,  General  Barlow,  except  to  count  him  among 
the  thousands  of  Americans  who  had  gone  down  on 
both  sides  in  the  dreadful  battle.  Strangely  enough, 
as  the  war  progressed,  Barlow  concluded  not  to  die; 
Providence  decreed  that  he  should  live.  He  recovered 
and  rejoined  his  command;  and  just  one  year  after 
that,  Barlow  saw  that  I  was  killed  in  another  battle. 
The  explanation  is  perfectly  simple.  A  cousin  of  mine, 
with  the  same  initials,  General  J.  B.  Gordon,  of  North 
Carolina,  was  killed  in  a  battle  near  Richmond.  Bar 
low,  who,  as  I  say,  had  recovered  and  rejoined  his  com 
mand — although  I  knew  he  was  dead,  or  thought  I 
did — picked  up  a  newspaper  and  read  this  item  in  it: 
"General  J.  B.  Gordon  of  the  Confederate  army  was 
killed  to-day  in  battle."  Calling  his  staff  around  him, 
Barlow  read  that  item  and  said  to  them,  "I  am  very 
sorry  to  see  this;  you  will  remember  that  General  J.  B. 
Gordon  was  the  officer  who  picked  me  up  on  the  battle 
field  at  Gettysburg,  and  sent  my  wife  through  his  lines 
to  me  at  night.  I  am  very  sorry. ' ' 

Fifteen  years  passed.  Now,  I  wish  the  audience  to 
remember  that  during  all  those  fifteen  years  which 
intervened,  Barlow  was  dead  to  me,  and  for  fourteen 
of  them  I  was  dead  to  Barlow.  In  the  meantime,  the 
partiality  of  the  people  of  Georgia  had  placed  me  in 
the  United  States  senate.  Clarkson  Potter  was  a  mem 
ber  of  Congress  from  New  York.  He  invited  me  to 
dine  with  him  to  meet  his  friend,  General  Barlow. 


A    REMINISCENCE    OF    GETTYSBURG  179 

Now  came  my  time  to  think.  "Barlow,"  I  said,  "Bar 
low?  That  is  the  same  name,  but  it  can't  be  my  Bar 
low,  for  I  left  him  dead  at  Gettysburg."  And  I  en 
deavored  to  understand  what  it  meant,  and  thought  I 
had  made  the  discovery.  I  was  told,  as  I  made  the 
inquiry,  that  there  were  two  Barlows  in  the  United 
States  army.  That  satisfied  me  at  once.  I  concluded, 
as  a  matter  of  course,  that  it  was  the  other  fellow  I 
was  going  to  meet;  that  Clarkson  Potter  had  invited 
me  to  dine  with  the  living  Barlow  and  not  with  the 
dead  one.  Barlow  had  a  similar  reflection  about  the 
Gordon  he  was  to  dine  with.  He  supposed  that  I  was 
the  other  Gordon.  We  met  at  Clarkson  Potter's  table. 
I  sat  just  opposite  to  Barlow;  and  in  the  lull  of  the  con 
versation  I  asked  him,  "General,  are  you  related  to  the 
Barlow  who  was  killed  at  Gettysburg?"  He  replied: 
"I  am  the  man,  sir."  "Are  you  related,"  he  asked, 
"to  the  Gordon  who  killed  me?"  "Well,"  I  said,  "I 
am  the  man  sir."  The  scene  which  followed  beggars 
all  description.  No  language  could  describe  that  scene 
at  Clarkson  Potter's  table  in  Washington,  fifteen  years 
after  the  war  was  over.  Truth  is  indeed  stranger  than 
fiction.  Think  of  it!  What  could  be  stranger?  There 
we  met,  both  dead,  each  of  us  presenting  to  the  other 
the  most  absolute  proof  of  the  resurrection  of  the  dead. 

But  stranger  still,  perhaps,  is  the  friendship  true  and 
lasting  begun  under  such  auspices.  What  could  be 
further  removed  from  the  realms  of  probabilities  than 
a  confiding  friendship  between  combatants,  which  is 
born  on  the  field  of  blood,  amidst  the  thunders  of  bat 
tle,  and  while  the  hostile  legions  rush  upon  each  other 


180  AMERICAN   PATRIOTISM 

with  deadly  fury  and  pour  into  each  other's  breasts 
their  volleys  of  fire  and  of  leaden  hail.  Such  were  the 
circumstances  under  which  was  born  the  friendship 
between  Barlow  and  myself,  and  which  I  believe  is 
more  sincere  because  of  its  remarkable  birth,  and  which 
has  strengthened  and  deepened  with  the  passing  years. 
For  the  sake  of  our  reunited  and  glorious  Republic  may 
we  not  hope  that  similar  ties  will  bind  together  all  the 
soldiers  of  the  two  armies — indeed  all  Americans  in 
perpetual  unity  until  the  last  bugle  call  shall  have 
summoned  us  to  the  eternal  camping  grounds  be 
yond  the  stars? 


THE  NEW  SOUTH 

Address  by  Henry  W.  Grady,  journalist  [born  in  Athens,  Ga.,  May  17, 
1851;  died  in  Atlanta,  Ga.,  December  23,  1889],  delivered  at  the  eighty- 
first  anniversary  celebration  of  the  New  England  Society  in  the  city  of 
New  York,  December  22,  1886. 

MR.  PRESIDENT  AND  GENTLEMEN: — "There  was  a 
South  of  slavery  and  secession — that  South  is  dead. 
There  is  a  South  of  union  and  freedom — that  South, 
thank  God,  is  living,  breathing,  growing  every  hour." 
These  words,  delivered  from  the  immortal  lips  of  Ben 
jamin  H.  Hill,  at  Tammany  Hall  in  1866,  true  then, 
and  truer  now,  I  shall  make  my  text  to-night. 

Let  me  express  to  you  my  appreciation  of  the  kind 
ness  by  which  I  am  permitted  to  address  you.  I  make 
this  abrupt  acknowledgment  advisedly,  for  I  feel  that 
if,  when  I  raise  my  provincial  voice  in  this  ancient  and 
august  presence,  I  could  find  courage  for  no  more  than 
the  opening  sentence,  it  would  be  well  if,  in  that  sen 
tence,  I  had  met  in  a  rough  sense  my  obligation  as  a 
guest,  and  had  perished,  so  to  speak,  with  courtesy 
on  my  lips  and  grace  in  my  heart.  Permitted  through 
your  kindness  to  catch  my  second  wind,  let  me  say  that 
I  appreciate  the  significance  of  being  the  first  South 
erner  to  speak  at  this  board,  which  bears  the  substance, 
if  it  surpasses  the  semblance,  of  original  New  England 
hospitality  and  honors  a  sentiment  that  in  turn  honors 
you,  but  in  which  my  personality  is  lost,  and  the  com 
pliment  to  my  people  made  plain. 

I  bespeak  the  utmost  stretch  of  your  courtesy  to- 

181 

AMERICA    FIRST 12. 


AMERICAN    PATRIOTISM 

night.  I  am  not  troubled  about  those  from  whom  I 
come.  You  remember  the  man  whose  wife  sent  him  to 
a  neighbor  with  a  pitcher  of  milk,  and  who,  tripping 
on  the  top  step,  fell,  with  such  casual  interruptions 
as  the  landing  afforded,  into  the  basement;  and  while 
picking  himself  up  had  the  pleasure  of  hearing  his  wife 
call  out:  "John,  did  you  break  the  pitcher?"  "No,  I 
didn't,"  said  John,  "but  I  be  dinged  if  I  don't!" 

So,  while  those  who  call  to  me  from  behind  may  in 
spire  me  with  energy  if  not  with  courage,  I  ask  an  in 
dulgent  hearing  from  you.  I  beg  that  you  will  bring 
your  full  faith  in  American  fairness  and  frankness  to 
judgment  upon  what  I  shall  say.  There  was  an  old 
preacher  once  who  told  some  boys  of  the  Bible  lesson 
he  was  going  to  read  hi  the  morning.  The  boys  find 
ing  the  place,  glued  together  the  connecting  pages. 
The  next  morning  he  read  on  the  bottom  of  one  page: 
"When  Noah  was  one  hundred  and  twenty  years  old 
he  took  unto  himself  a  wife,  who  was" — then  turning 
the  page — "one  hundred  and  forty  cubits  long,  forty 
cubits  wide,  built  of  gopher  wood,  and  covered  with 
pitch  inside  and  out."  He  was  naturally  puzzled  at 
this.  He  read  it  again,  verified  it,  and  then  said: 
"My  friends,  this  is  the  first  time  I  ever  met  this  in 
the  Bible,  but  I  accept  it  as  an  evidence  of  the  asser 
tion  that  we  are  fearfully  and  wonderfully  made."  If 
I  could  get  you  to  hold  such  faith  to-night  I  could  pro 
ceed  cheerfully  to  the  task  I  otherwise  approach  with 
a  sense  of  consecration. 

Pardon  me  one  word,  Mr.  President,  spoken  for  the 
sole  purpose  of  getting  into  the  volumes  that  go  out 


THE   NEW    SOUTH  183 

annually  freighted  with  the  rich  eloquence  of  your 
speakers— the  fact  that  the  Cavalier  as  well  as  the 
Puritan  was  on  the  continent  in  its  early  days,  and 
that  he  was  "up  and  able  to  be  about."  I  have 
read  your  books  carefully  and  I  find  no  mention  of 
that  fact,  which  seems  to  me  an  important  one  for 
preserving  a  sort  of  historical  equilibrium  if  for  nothing 
else.  Let  me  remind  you  the  Virginia  Cavalier  first 
challenged  France  on  this  continent — that  Cavalier 
John  Smith  gave  New  England  its  very  name,  and  was 
so  pleased  with  the  job  that  he  has  been  handing  his 
own  name  around  ever  since — and  that  while  Miles 
Standish  was  cutting  off  men's  ears  for  courting  a  girl 
without  her  parents'  consent,  and  forbade  men  to  kiss 
their  wives  on  Sunday,  the  Cavalier  was  courting  every 
thing  in  sight,  and  that  the  Almighty  had  vouchsafed 
great  increase  to  the  Cavalier  colonies,  the  huts  in  the 
wilderness  being  full  as  the  nests  in  the  woods. 

But  having  incorporated  the  Cavalier  as  a  fact  in 
your  charming  little  books  I  shall  let  him  work  out 
his  own  salvation,  as  he  has  always  done  with  engaging 
gallantry,  and  we  will  hold  no  controversy  as  to  his 
merits.  Why  should  we  ?  Neither  Puritan  nor  Cavalier 
long  survived  as  such.  The  virtues  and  traditions  of 
both  happily  still  live  for  the  inspiration  of  their  sons 
and  the  saving  of  the  old  fashion.  But  both  Puritan 
and  Cavalier  were  lost  in  the  storm  of  the  first  Revo 
lution;  and  the  American  citizen,  supplanting  both 
and  stronger  than  either,  took  possession  of  the  Re 
public  bought  by  their  common  blood  and  fashioned 
to  wisdom,  and  charged  himself  with  teaching  men 

' 


184  AMERICAN   PATRIOTISM 

government  and  establishing  the  voice  of  the  people 
as  the  voice  of  God. 

My  friend,  Dr.  Talmage  has  told  you  that  the  typi 
cal  American  has  yet  to  come.  Let  me  tell  you  that 
he  has  already  come.  Great  types  like  valuable  plants 
are  slow  to  flower  and  fruit.  But  from  the  union 
of  these  colonies  Puritans  and  Cavaliers,  from  the 
straightening  of  their  purposes  and  the  crossing  of 
their  blood,  slow  perfecting  through  a  century,  came 
he  who  stands  as  the  first  typical  American,  the  first 
who  comprehended  within  himself  all  the  strength 
and  gentleness,  all  the  majesty  and  grace  of  this  Re 
public — Abraham  Lincoln.  He  was  the  son  of  Puritan 
and  Cavalier,  for  in  his  ardent  nature  were  fused  the 
virtues  of  both,  and  in  the  depths  of  his  great  soul  the 
faults  of  both  were  lost.  He  was  greater  than  Puritan, 
greater  than  Cavalier,  in  that  he  was  American  re 
newed,  and  that  in  his  homely  form  were  first  gathered 
the  vast  and  thrilling  forces  of  his  ideal  government- 
charging  it  with  such  tremendous  meaning  and  so 
elevating  it  above  human  suffering  that  martyrdom, 
though  infamously  aimed,  came  as  a  fitting  crown  to 
a  life  consecrated  from  the  cradle  to  human  liberty. 
Let  us,  each  cherishing  the  traditions  and  honoring 
his  fathers,  build  with  reverent  hands  to  the  type  of 
this  simple  but  sublime  life,  in  which  all  types  are 
honored;  and  in  our  common  glory  as  Americans  there 
will  be  plenty  and  to  spare  for  your  forefathers  and  for 
mine. 

In  speaking  to  the  toast  with  which  you  have  hon 
ored  me.  I  accent  the  term,  "The  New  South,"  as  in 


THE    NEW    SOUTH  185 

no  sense  disparaging  to  the  Old.  Dear  to  me,  sir,  is 
the  home  of  my  childhood  and  the  traditions  of  my 
people.  I  would  not,  if  I  could,  dim  the  glory  they 
won  in  peace  and  war,  or  by  word  or  deed  take  aught 
from  the  splendor  and  grace  of  their  civilization— 
never  equaled  and,  perhaps,  never  to  be  equaled  in  its 
chivalric  strength  and  grace.  There  is  a  New  South, 
not  through  protest  against  the  Old,  but  because  of 
new  conditions,  new  adjustments  and,  if  you  please, 
new  ideas  and  aspirations.  It  is  to  this  that  I  address 
myself,  and  to  the  consideration  of  which  I  hasten 
lest  it  become  the  Old  South  before  I  get  to  it.  Age 
does  not  endow  all  things  with  strength  and  virtue, 
nor  are  all  new  things  to  be  despised.  The  shoemaker 
who  put  over  his  door  "John  Smith's  shop.  Founded 
in  1760,"  was  more  than  matched  by  his  young  rival 
across  the  street  who  hung  out  this  sign:  "Bill  Jones. 
Established  1886.  No  old  stock  kept  in  this  shop." 

Dr.  Talmage  has  drawn  for  you,  with  a  master's 
hand,  the  picture  of  your  returning  armies.  He  has 
told  you  how,  in  the  pomp  and  circumstance  of  war, 
they  came  back  to  you,  marching  with  proud  and 
victorious  tread,  reading  their  glory  in  a  nation's  eyes! 
Will  you  bear  with  me  while  I  tell  you  of  another  army 
that  sought  its  home  at  the  close  of  the  late  war — an 
army  that  marched  home  in  defeat  and  not  in  victory 
—in  pathos  and  not  in  splendor,  but  in  glory  that 
equalled  yours,  and  to  hearts  as  loving  as  ever  wel 
comed  heroes  home.  Let  me  picture  to  you  the  foot 
sore  Confederate  soldier,  as,  buttoning  up  in  his  faded 
gray  jacket  the  parole  which  was  to  bear  testimony  to 


186  AMERICAN   PATRIOTISM 

his  children  of  his  fidelity  and  faith,  he  turned  his  face 
southward  from  Appomattox  in  April,  1865.  Think 
of  him  as  ragged,  half-starved,  heavy-hearted,  en 
feebled  by  want  and  wounds;  having  fought  to  ex 
haustion,  he  surrenders  his  gun,  wrings  the  hands  of 
his  comrades  in  silence,  and  lifting  his  tear-stained 
and  pallid  face  for  the  last  time  to  the  graves  that  dot 
the  old  Virginia  hills,  pulls  his  gray  cap  over  his  brow 
and  begins  the  slow  and  painful  journey.  What  does 
he  find — let  me  ask  you,  who  went  to  your  homes 
eager  to  find  in  the  welcome  you  had  justly  earned, 
full  payment  for  four  years'  sacrifice — what  does  he 
find  when,  having  followed  the  battle-stained  cross 
against  overwhelming  odds,  dreading  death  not  half 
so  much  as  surrender,  he  reaches  the  home  he  left  so 
prosperous  and  beautiful?  He  finds  his  house  in  ruins, 
his  farm  devastated,  his  slaves  free,  his  stock  killed, 
his  barns  empty,  his  trade  destroyed,  his  money  worth 
less;  his  social  system,  feudal  in  its  magnificence,  swept 
away;  his  people  without  law  or  legal  status,  his  com 
rades  slain,  and  the  burdens  of  others  heavy  on  his 
shoulders.  Crushed  by  defeat,  his  very  traditions 
are  gone;  without  money,  credit,  employment,  mater 
ial  or  training;  and  besides  all  this,  confronted  with 
the  gravest  problem  that  ever  met  human  intelli 
gence — the  establishing  of  a  status  for  the  vast  body 
of  his  liberated  slaves. 

What  does  he  do — this  hero  in  gray  with  a  heart  of 
gold?  Does  he  sit  down  in  sullenness  and  despair? 
Not  for  a  day.  Surely  God,  who  had  stripped  him  of 
his  prosperity,  inspired  him  in  his  adversity.  As  ruin 


THE   NEW     SOUTH  187 

was  never  before  so  overwhelming,  never  was  restora 
tion  swifter.  The  soldier  stepped  from  the  trenches 
into  the  furrow;  horses  that  had  charged  Federal 
guns  marched  before  the  plow,  and  fields  that  ran  red 
with  human  blood  in  April  were  green  with  the  harvest 
in  June;  women  reared  in  luxury  cut  up  their  dresses 
and  made  breeches  for  their  husbands,  and,  with  a 
patience  and  heroism  that  fit  women  always  as  a  gar 
ment,  gave  their  hands  to  work.  There  was  little 
bitterness  in  all  this.  Cheerfulness  and  frankness  pre 
vailed.  "Bill  Arp"  struck  the  keynote  when  he  said: 
"Well,  I  killed  as  many  of  them  as  they  did  of  me, 
and  now  I  am  going  to  work."  Or  the  soldier  return 
ing  home  after  defeat  and  roasting  some  corn  on  the 
roadside,  who  made  the  remark  to  his  comrades: 
"You  may  leave  the  South  if  you  want  to,  but  I  am 
going  to  Sanders ville,  kiss  my  wife  and  raise  a  crop, 
and  if  the  Yankees  fool  with  me  any  more  I  will  whip 
'em  again."  I  want  to  say  to  General  Sherman — who 
is  considered  an  able  man  in  our  part,  though  some 
people  think  he  is  a  kind  of  careless  man  about  fire- 
that  from  the  ashes  he  left  us  in  1864  we  have  raised  a 
brave  and  beautiful  city;  that  somehow  or  other  we 
have  caught  the  sunshine  in  the  bricks  and  mortar 
of  our  homes,  and  have  builded  therein  not  one  ignoble 
prejudice  or  memory. 

But  in  all  this  what  have  we  accomplished?  What  is 
the  sum  of  our  work?  We  have  found  out  that  in  the 
general  summary  the  free  negro  counts  more  than  he 
did  as  a  slave.  We  have  planted  the  schoolhouse  on 
the  Jiilltop  and  made  it  free  to  white  and  black.  We 


188  AMERICAN   PATRIOTISM 

have  sowed  towns  and  cities  in  the  place  of  theories 
and  put  business  above  politics.  We  have  challenged 
your  spinners  in  Massachusetts  and  your  iron-makers 
in  Pennsylvania.  We  have  learned  that  the  $400,000,- 
000  annually  received  from  our  cotton  crop  will  make 
us  rich,  when  the  supplies  that  make  it  are  home- 
raised.  We  have  reduced  the  commercial  rate  of 
interest  from  twenty-four  to  six  per  cent.,  and  are 
floating  four  per  cent,  bonds.  We  have  learned  that 
one  Northern  immigrant  is  worth  fifty  foreigners,  and 
have  smoothed  the  path  to  southward,  wiped  out  the 
place  where  Mason  and  Dixon's  line  used  to  be,  and 
hung  our  latch-string  out,  to  you  and  yours.  We 
have  reached  the  point  that  marks  perfect  harmony 
in  every  household,  when  the  husband  confesses  that 
the  pies  which  his  wife  cooks  are  as  good  as  those  his 
mother  used  to  bake;  and  we  admit  that  the  sun 
shines  as  brightly  and  the  moon  as  softly  as  it  did 
"before  the  war."  We  have  established  thrift  in 
city  and  country.  We  have  fallen  in  love  with 
work.  We  have  restored  comfort  to  homes  from 
which  culture  and  elegance  never  departed.  We  have 
let  economy  take  root  and  spread  among  us  as  rank 
as  the  crabgrass  which  sprung  from  Sherman's  cavalry 
camps,  until  we  are  ready  to  lay  odds  on  the  Georgia 
Yankee,  as  he  manufactures  relics  of  the  battlefield 
in  a  one-story  shanty  and  squeezes  pure  olive  oil  out 
of  his  cotton  seed,  against  any  down-easter  that  ever 
swapped  wooden  nutmegs  for  flannel  sausages  in  the 
valleys  of  Vermont.  Above  all,  we  know  that  we 
have  achieved  in  these  "piping  times  of  peace"  a  fuller 
independence  for  the  South  than  that  which  our 


THE    NEW    SOUTH  189 

fathers  sought  to  win  in  the  forum  by  their  eloquence 
or  compel  on  the  field  by  their  swords. 

It  is  a  rare  privilege,  sir,  to  have  had  part,  however 
humble,  in  this  work.  Never  was  nobler  duty  confided 
to  human  hands  than  the  uplifting  and  upbuilding  of 
the  prostrate  and  bleeding  South,  misguided,  perhaps, 
but  beautiful  in  her  suffering,  and  honest,  brave  and 
generous  always.  In  the  record  of  her  social,  indus 
trial,  and  political  institutions  we  await  with  con 
fidence  the  verdict  of  the  world. 

But  what  of  the  negro?  Have  we  solved  the  problem 
he  presents  or  progressed  in  honor  and  equity  towards 
the  solution?  Let  the  record  speak  to  the  point.  No 
section  shows  a  more  prosperous  laboring  population 
than  the  negroes  of  the  South ;  none  in  fuller  sympathy 
with  the  employing  and  landowning  class.  He  shares 
our  school  fund,  has  the  fullest  protection  of  our  laws 
and  the  friendship  of  our  people.  Self-interest,  as  well 
as  honor,  demand  that  he  should  have  this.  Our  future, 
our  very  existence  depend  upon  our  working  out  this 
problem  in  full  and  exact  justice.  We  understand  that 
when  Lincoln  signed  the  Emancipation  Proclamation, 
your  victory  was  assured;  for  he  then  committed  you 
to  the  cause  of  human  liberty,  against  which  the  arms 
of  man  cannot  prevail;  while  those  of  our  statesmen 
who  trusted  to  make  slavery  the  cornerstone  of  the 
Confederacy  doomed  us  to  defeat  as  far  as  they  could, 
committing  us  to  a  cause  that  reason  could  not  de 
fend  or  the  sword  maintain  in  the  sight  of  advancing 
civilization.  Had  Mr.  Toombs  said,  which  he  did  not 
say,  that  he  would  call  the  roll  of  his  slaves  at  the  foot 


190  AMERICAN   PATRIOTISM 

of  Bunker  Hill,  he  would  have  been  foolish,  for  he 
might  have  known  that  whenever  slavery  became  en 
tangled  in  war  it  must  perish,  and  that  the  chattel  in 
human  flesh  ended  forever  in  New  England  when  your 
fathers — not  to  be  blamed  for  parting  with  what  didn't 
pay — sold  their  slaves  to  our  fathers — not  to  be  praised 
for  knowing  a  paying  thing  when  they  saw  it. 

The  relations  of  the  Southern  people  with  the  negro 
are  close  and  cordial.  We  remember  with  what  fidelity 
for  four  years  he  guarded  our  defenseless  women  and 
children,  whose  husbands  and  fathers  were  fighting 
against  his  freedom.  To  his  eternal  credit  be  it  said 
that  whenever  he  struck  a  blow  for  his  own  liberty  he 
fought  in  open  battle,  and  when  at  last  he  raised  his 
black  and  humble  hands  that  the  shackles  might  be 
struck  off,  those  hands  were  innocent  of  wrong  against 
his  helpless  charges,  and  worthy  to  be  taken  in  loving 
grasp  by  every  man  who  honors  loyalty  and  devotion. 
Ruffians  have  maltreated  him,  rascals  have  misled 
him,  philanthropists  established  a  bank  for  him, 
but  the  South,  with  the  North,  protests  against 
injustice  to  this  simple  and  sincere  people.  To  liberty 
and  enfranchisement  is  as  far  as  law  can  carry  the 
negro.  The  rest  must  be  left  to  conscience  and  com 
mon  sense.  It  should  be  left  to  those  among  whom  his 
lot  is  cast,  with  whom  he  is  indissolubly  connected  and 
whose  prosperity  depends  upon  their  possessing  his 
intelligent  sympathy  and  confidence.  Faith  has  been 
kept  with  him  in  spite  of  calumnious  assertions  to  the 
contrary  by  those  who  assume  to  speak  for  us  or  by 
frank  opponents.  Faith  will  be  kept  with  him  in  the 
future,  if  the  South  holds  her  reason  and  integrity. 


THE  NEW  SOUTH  191 

But  have  we  kept  faith  with  you?  In  the  fullest 
sense,  yes.  When  Lee  surrendered — I  don't  say  when 
Johnston  surrendered,  because  I  understand  he  still 
alludes  to  the  time  when  he  met  General  Sherman  last 
as  the  time  when  he  "determined  to  abandon  any  fur 
ther  prosecution  of  the  struggle" — when  Lee  surrend 
ered,  I  say,  and  Johnston  quit,  the  South  became,  and 
has  since  been,  loyal  to  this  Union.  We  fought  hard 
enough  to  know  that  we  were  whipped,  and  in  perfect 
frankness  accepted  as  final  the  arbitrament  of  the 
sword  to  which  we  had  appealed.  The  South  found 
her  jewel  in  the  toad's  head  of  defeat.  The  shackles 
that  had  held  her  in  narrow  limitations  fell  forever 
when  the  shackles  of  the  negro  slave  were  broken. 
Under  the  old  regime  the  negroes  were  slaves  to  the 
South,  the  South  was  a  slave  to  the  system.  The  old 
plantation,  with  its  simple  police  regulation  and  its 
feudal  habit,  was  the  only  type  possible  under  slavery. 
Thus  we  gathered  in  the  hands  of  a  splendid  and  chival- 
ric  oligarchy  the  substance  that  should  have  been 
diffused  among  the  people,  as  the  rich  blood,  under 
certain  artificial  conditions,  is  gathered  at  the  heart, 
filling  with  affluent  rapture,  but  leaving  the  body  chill 
and  colorless. 

The  Old  South  rested  everything  on  slavery  and 
agriculture,  unconscious  that  these  could  neither  give 
nor  maintain  healthy  growth.  The  New  South  pre 
sents  a  perfect  democracy,  the  oligarchs  leading  in  the 
popular  movement — a  social  system  compact  and 
closely  knitted,  less  splendid  on  the  surface  but  strong 
er  at  the  core — a  hundred  farms  for  every  plantation, 


192  AMERICAN   PATRIOTISM 

fifty  homes  for  every  palace,  and  diversified  industry 
that  meets  the  complex  needs  of  this  complex  age. 

The  New  South  is  enamored  of  her  new  work.  Her 
soul  is  stirred  with  the  breath  of  a  new  life.  The  light 
of  a  grander  day  is  falling  fair  on  her  face.  She  is  thrill 
ing  with  the  consciousness  of  growing  power  and  pros 
perity.  As  she  stands  upright,  full-statured  and  equal 
among  the  people  of  the  earth,  breathing  the  keen  air 
and  looking  out  upon  the  expanding  horizon,  she  un 
derstands  that  her  emancipation  came  because  in  the 
inscrutable  wisdom  of  God  her  honest  purpose  was 
crossed  and  her  brave  armies  were  beaten. 

This  is  said  in  no  spirit  of  time-serving  or  apology. 
The  South  has  nothing  for  which  to  apologize.  She 
believes  that  the  late  struggle  between  the  states  was 
war  and  not  rebellion,  revolution  and  not  conspiracy, 
and  that  her  convictions  were  as  honest  as  yours.  I 
should  be  unjust  to  the  dauntless  spirit  of  the  South 
and  to  my  own  convictions  if  I  did  not  make  this  plain  in 
this  presence.  The  South  has  nothing  to  take  back. 
In  my  native  town  of  Athens  is  a  monument  that 
crowns  its  central  hills — a  plain,  white  shaft.  Deep 
cut  into  its  shining  side  is  a  name  dear  to  me  above  the 
names  of  men,  that  of  a  brave  and  simple  man  who 
died  in  brave  and  simple  faith.  Not  for  all  the  glories 
of  New  England — from  Plymouth  Rock  all  the  way — 
would  I  exchange  the  heritage  he  left  me  in  his  soldier's 
death.  To  the  foot  of  that  shaft  I  shall  send  my  chil 
dren's  children  to  reverence  him  who  ennobled  their 
name  with  his  heroic  blood.  But,  sir,  speaking  from 
the  shadow  of  that  memory,  which  I  honor  as  I  do 


THE   NEW   SOUTH  193 

nothing  else  on  earth,  I  say  that  the  cause  in  which  he 
suffered  and  for  which  he  gave  his  life  was  adjudged 
by  higher  and  fuller  wisdom  than  his  or  mine,  and  I 
am  glad  that  the  omniscient  God  held  the  balance  of 
battle  in  His  Almighty  hand,  and  that  human  slavery 
was  swept  forever  from  American  soil — the  American 
Union  saved  from  the  wreck  of  war. 

This  message,  Mr.  President,  comes  to  you  from  con 
secrated  ground.  Every  foot  of  the  soil  about  the  city 
in  which  I  live  is  sacred  as  a  battleground  of  the  Re 
public.  Every  hill  that  invests  it  is  hallowed  to  you 
by  the  blood  of  your  brothers,  who  died  for  your  vic 
tory,  and  doubly  hallowed  to  us  by  the  blood  of  those 
who  died  hopeless,  but  undaunted,  in  defeat — sacred 
soil  to  all  of  us,  rich  with  memories  that  make  us  purer 
and  stronger  and  better,  silent  but  stanch  witnesses 
in  its  red  desolation  of  the  matchless  valor  of  American 
hearts  and  the  deathless  glory  of  American  arms- 
speaking  in  eloquent  witness  in  its  white  peace  and 
prosperity  to  the  indissoluble  union  of  American  states 
and  the  imperishable  brotherhood  of  the  American 
people. 

Now,  what  answer  has  New  England  to  this  message? 
Will  she  permit  the  prejudices  of  war  to  remain  in  the 
hearts  of  the  conquerors,  when  it  has  died  in  the  hearts 
of  the  conquered?  ("No!  No!")  Will  she  transmit 
this  prejudice  to  the  next  generation,  that  in  their 
hearts,  which  never  felt  the  generous  ardor  of  conflict, 
it  may  perpetuate  itself?  ("No!  No!")  Will  she 
withhold,  save  in  strained  courtesy,  the  hand  which 
straight  from  his  soldier's  heart  Grant  offered  to  Lee 


194  AMERICAN   PATRIOTISM 

at  Appomattox?  Will  she  make  the  vision  of  a  re 
stored  and  happy  people,  which  gathered  above  the 
couch  of  your  dying  captain,  filling  his  heart  with  grace, 
touching  his  lips  with  praise  and  glorifying  his  path 
to  the  grave;  will  she  make  this  vision  on  which  the 
last  sigh  of  his  expiring  soul  breathed  a  benediction,  a 
cheat  and  a  delusion?  If  she  does,  the  South,  never 
abject  in  asking  for  comradeship,  must  accept  with 
dignity  its  refusal;  but  if  she  does  not;  if  she  accepts 
in  frankness  and  sincerity  this  message  of  goodwill 
and  friendship,  then  will  the  prophecy  of  Webster, 
delivered  in  this  very  Society  forty  years  ago  amid 
tremendous  applause,  be  verified  in  its  fullest  and  final 
sense,  when  he  said:  "Standing  hand  to  hand  and 
clasping  hands,  we  should  remain  united  as  we  have 
been  for  sixty  years,  citizens  of  the  same  country, 
members  of  the  same  government,  united,  all  united 
now  and  united  forever.  There  have  been  difficulties, 
contentions,  and  controversies,  but  I  tell  you  that  in 
my  judgment 

"  'Those  opposed  eyes, 

Which  like  the  meteors  of  a  troubled  heaven, 
All  of  one  nature,  of  one  substance  bred, 
Did  lately  meet  in  th'  intestine  shock, 
Shall  now,  in  mutual  well-beseeming  ranks, 
March  all  one  way/  : 


THE  DUTY  AND  VALUE  OF   PATRIOTISM 

John  Ireland,  Archbishop  of  Saint  Paul,  was  born  at  Burnchurch, 
County  Kilkenny,  Ireland,  September  11,  1838.  As  a  boy  he  came  to 
Saint  Paul,  Minnesota,  in  1849,  and  there  obtained  his  secular  education 
at  the  Cathedral  School.  He  studied  theology  in  France,  in  the  semin 
aries  of  Meximieux  and  Hyeres.  During  the  Civil  War  he  was  chaplain  of 
the  Fifth  Minnesota  Regiment.  In  1875  he  was  consecrated  bishop  of 
Saint  Paul.  In  1869  he  founded  the  first  total-abstinence  society  in  Minne 
sota  and  has  lectured  much  on  temperance  in  the  United  States  and  Great 
Britain.  The  following  extracts,  used  by  special  permission,  are  from  his 
lecture  delivered  before  the  New  York  Commandery  of  the  Loyal  Legion, 
New  York,  April  4,  1894. 

Patriotism  is  love  of  country,  and  loyalty  to  its  life 
and  weal — love  tender  and  strong,  tender  as  the  love 
of  son  for  mother,  strong  as  the  pillars  of  death;  loyalty 
generous  and  disinterested,  shrinking  from  no  sacri 
fice,  seeking  no  reward  save  country's  honor  and 
country's  triumph. 

Patriotism!  There  is  magic  in  the  word.  It  is  bliss 
to  repeat  it.  Through  ages  the  human  race  burnt  the 
incense  of  admiration  and  reverence  at  the  shrines  of 
patriotism.  The  most  beautiful  pages  of  history  are 
those  which  recount  its  deeds.  Fireside  tales,  the 
outpourings  of  the  memories  of  peoples,  borrow  from 
it  their  warmest  glow.  Poets  are  sweetest  when  they 
reecho  its  whisperings;  orators  are  most  potent  when 
they  thrill  its  chords  to  music. 

Pagan  nations  were  wrong  when  they  made  gods  of 
their  noblest  patriots.  But  the  error  was  the  excess  of 
a  great  truth,  that  heaven  unites  with  earth  in  ap- 


195 


196  AMERICAN    PATRIOTISM 

proving  and  blessing  patriotism;  that  patriotism  is 
one  of  earth's  highest  virtues,  worthy  to  have  come 
down  from  the  atmosphere  of  the  skies. 

The  exalted  patriotism  of  the  exiled  Hebrew  ex 
haled  itself  in  a  canticle  of  religion  which  Jehovah  in 
spired,  and  which  has  been  transmitted,  as  the  in 
heritance  of  God's  people  to  the  Christian  Church: 

"Upon  the  rivers  of  Babylon  there  we  sat  and  wept, 
when  we  remembered  Sion. — If  I  forget  thee,  O  Jeru 
salem,  let  my  right  hand  be  forgotten.  Let  my  tongue 
cleave  to  my  jaws,  if  I  do  not  remember  thee,  if  I  do 
not  make  Jerusalem  the  beginning  of  my  joy." 

The  human  race  pays  homage  to  patriotism  because 
of  its  supreme  value.  The  value  of  patriotism  to  a 
people  is  above  gold  and  precious  stones,  above  com 
merce  and  industry,  above  citadels  and  warships. 
Patriotism  is  the  vital  spark  of  national  honor;  it  is 
the  fount  of  the  nation's  prosperity,  the  shield  of  the 
nation's  safety.  Take  patriotism  away,  the  nation's 
soul  has  fled,  bloom  and  beauty  have  vanished  from 
the  nation's  countenance. 

The  human  race  pays  homage  to  patriotism  because 
of  its  supreme  loveliness.  Patriotism  goes  out  to  what 
is  among  earth's  possessions  the  most  precious,  the 
first  and  best  and  dearest — country — and  its  effusion 
is  the  fragrant  flowering  of  the  purest  and  noblest 
sentiments  of  the  heart. 

Patriotism  is  innate  in  all  men;  the  absence  of  it 
betokens  a  perversion  of  human  nature;  but  it  grows 
its  full  growth  only  where  thoughts  are  elevated  and 
heart-beatings  are  generous. 


THE   DUTY   AND    VALUE    OF    PATRIOTISM  197 

Next  to  God  is  country,  and  next  to  religion  is 
patriotism.  No  praise  goes  beyond  its  deserts.  It 
is  sublime  in  its  heroic  oblation  upon  the  field  of  battle. 
"Oh  glorious  is  he,"  exclaims  in  Homer  the  Trojan 
warrior,  "who  for  his  country  falls!"  It  is  sublime  in 
the  oft-repeated  toil  of  dutiful  citizenship.  "Of  all 
human  doings,"  writes  Cicero,  "none  is  more  honor 
able  and  more  estimable  than  to  merit  well  of  the  com 
monwealth." 

Countries  are  of  divine  appointment.  The  Most 
High  "divided  the  nations,  separated  the  sons  of  Adam, 
and  appointed  the  bounds  of  peoples."  The  physical 
and  moral  necessities  of  God's  creatures  are  revela 
tions  of  his  will  and  laws.  Man  is  born  a  social  being. 
A  condition  of  his  existence  and  of  his  growth  of  ma 
ture  age  is  the  family.  Nor  does  the  family  suffice  to 
itself.  A  larger  social  organism  is  needed,  into  which 
families  gather,  so  as  to  obtain  from  one  another  secur 
ity  to  life  and  property  and  aid  in  the  development  of 
the  faculties  and  powers  with  which  nature  has  en 
dowed  the  children  of  men. 

The  whole  human  race  is  too  extensive  and  too  di 
versified  in  interests  to  serve  those  ends:    hence  its 
subdivisions  into  countries  or  peoples.    Countries  have 
their  providential  limits — the  waters  of  a  sea,  a  moun 
tain  range,  the  lines  of  similarity  of  requirements  or  of 
methods  of  living.     The  limits  widen  in  space  accord 
ing  to  the  measure  of  the  destinies  which  the  great 
Ruler  allots  to  peoples,  and  the  importance  of  their 
parts  in  the  mighty  work  of  the  cycles  of  years,  the 
ever-advancing  tide  of  humanity's  evolution. 

AMERICA    FIRST 13. 


198  AMERICAN    PATRIOTISM 

The  Lord  is  the  God  of  nations  because  he  is  the  God 
of  men.  No  nation  is  born  into  life  or  vanishes  back 
into  nothingness  without  his  bidding.  I  believe  in  the 
providence  of  God  over  countries  as  I  believe  in  his  wis 
dom  and  his  love,  and  my  patriotism  to  my  country 
rises  within  my  soul  invested  with  the  halo  of  my 
religion  to  my  God. 

More  than  a  century  ago  a  trans-Atlantic  poet  and 
philosopher,  reading  well  the  signs,  wrote: 

"Westward  the  course  of  empire  takes  its  way. 

The  first  four  acts  already  past, 
A  fifth  shall  close  the  drama  with  the  day; 
Time's  noblest  offspring  is  the  last." 

Berkeley's  prophetic  eye  had  descried  America. 
What  shall  I  say,  in  a  brief  discourse  of  my  country's 
value  and  beauty,  of  her  claims  to  my  love  and  loyalty? 
I  will  pass  by  in  silence  her  fields  and  forests,  her  rivers 
and  seas,  the  boundless  riches  hidden  beneath  her  soil 
and  amid  the  rocks  of  her  mountains,  her  pure  and 
health-giving  air,  her  transcendent  wealth  of  nature's 
fairest  and  most  precious  gifts.  I  will  not  speak  of  the 
noble  qualities  and  robust  deeds  of  her  sons,  skilled  in 
commerce  and  industry,  valorous  in  war,  prosperous 
in  peace.  In  all  these  things  America  is  opulent  and 
great:  but  beyond  them  and  above  them  in  her  singu 
lar  grandeur,  to  which  her  material  splendor  is  only 
the  fitting  circumstance. 

America  born  into  the  family  of  nations  in  these 
latter  times  is  the  highest  billow  in  humanity's  evolu 
tion,  the  crowning  effort  of  ages  in  the  aggrandizement 
of  man.  Unless  we  take  her  in  this  altitude,  we  do  not 


THE   DUTY    AND   VALUE   OF   PATRIOTISM  199 

comprehend  her;  we  belittle  her  towering  stature 
and  conceal  the  singular  design  of  Providence  in  her 
creation. 

America  is  the  country  of  human  dignity  and  human 
liberty. 

When  the  fathers  of  the  republic  declared  "that  all 
men  are  created  equal;  that  they  are  endowed  by  their 
Creator  with  certain  inalienable  rights;  that  among 
these  are  life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness," 
a  cardinal  principle  was  enunciated  which  in  its  truth 
was  as  old  as  the  race,  but  in  practical  realization  al 
most  unknown. 

Slowly,  amid  sufferings  and  revolutions,  humanity 
had  been  reaching  out  toward  a  reign  of  the  rights  of 
man.  Ante-Christian  paganism  had  utterly  denied 
such  rights.  It  allowed  nothing  to  man  as  man;  he 
was  what  wealth,  place,  or  power  made  him.  Even 
the  wise  Aristotle  taught  that  some  men  were  intended 
by  nature  to  be  slaves  and  chattels.  The  sweet  religion 
of  Christ  proclaimed  aloud  the  doctrine  of  the  com 
mon  fatherhood  of  God  and  the  universal  brotherhood 
of  men. 

Eighteen  hundred  years,  however,  went  by,  and  the 
civilized  world  had  not  yet  put  its  civil  and  political 
institutions  in  accord  with  its  spiritual  faith.  The 
Christian  Church  was  all  this  time  leavening  human 
society  and  patiently  awaiting  the  promised  fermenta 
tion.  This  came  at  last,  and  it  came  in  America.  It 
came  in  a  first  manifestation  through  the  Declaration 
of  Independence;  it  came  in  a  second  and  final  mani 
festation  through  President  Lincoln's  Proclamation  of 
Emancipation. 


200  AMERICAN   PATRIOTISM 

In  America  all  men  are  civilly  and  politically  equal; 
all  have  the  same  rights;  all  wield  the  same  arm  of 
defense  and  of  conquest,  the  suffrage;  and  the  sole 
condition  of  rights  and  of  power  is  simple  manhood. 

Liberty  is  the  exemption  from  all  restraint  save  that 
of  the  laws  of  justice  and  order;  the  exemption  from 
submission  to  other  men,  except  as  they  represent  and 
enforce  those  laws.  The  divine  gift  of  liberty  to  man 
is  God's  recognition  of  his  greatness  and  his  dignity. 
The  sweetness  of  man's  life  and  the  power  of  growth 
lie  in  liberty.  The  loss  of  liberty  is  the  loss  of  light 
and  sunshine,  the  loss  of  life's  best  portion.  Humanity, 
under  the  spell  of  heavenly  memories,  never  ceased  to 
dream  of  liberty  and  to  aspire  to  its  possession.  Now 
and  then,  here  and  there,  its  refreshing  breezes  caressed 
humanity's  brow.  But  not  until  the  republic  of  the 
West  was  born,  not  until  the  Star-Spangled  Banner 
rose  toward  the  skies,  was  liberty  caught  up  in  human 
ity's  embrace  and  embodied  in  a  great  and  abiding 
nation. 

In  America  the  government  takes  from  the  liberty 
of  the  citizen  only  so  much  as  is  necessary  for  the  weal 
of  the  nation,  which  the  citizen  by  his  own  act  freely 
concedes.  In  America  there  are  no  masters,  who  gov 
ern  in  their  own  rights,  for  their  own  interests,  or  at 
their  own  will.  We  have  over  us  no  Louis  XIV,  say 
ing:  "L'etat,  c'est  moi;"  no  Hohenzollern,  announcing 
that  in  his  acts  as  sovereign  he  is  responsible  only  to 
his  conscience  and  to  God. 

Ours  is  the  government  of  the  people,  by  the  people, 
for  the  people.  The  government  is  om;  organized  will. 


THE   DUTY   AND    VALUE   OF  PATRIOTISM  201 

There  is  no  state  above  or  apart  from  the  people. 
Rights  begin  with  and  go  upward  from  the  people.  In 
other  countries,  even  those  apparently  the  most  free, 
rights  begin  with  and  come  downward  from  the  state; 
the  rights  of  citizens,  the  rights  of  the  people,  are  con 
cessions  which  have  been  painfully  wrenched  from  the 
governing  powers. 

With  Americans,  whenever  the  organized  govern 
ment  does  not  prove  its  grant,  the  liberty  of  the  in 
dividual  citizen  is  sacred  and  inviolable.  Elsewhere 
there  are  governments  called  republics;  universal  suf 
frage  constitutes  the  state;  but,  once  constituted, 
the  state  is  tyrannous  and  arbitrary,  invades  at  will 
private  rights,  and  curtails  at  will  individual  liberty. 
One  republic  is  liberty's  native  home — America. 


OUR  COUNTRY 

From  the  speech  of  President  McKinley,  in  response  to  the  toast  "Our 
Country,"  at  the  Peace  Jubilee  banquet  in  Chicago,  October  19,  1898. 

MR.     TOASTMASTER    AND    GENTLEMEN! It    affords 

me  gratification  to  meet  the  people  of  the  city  of  Chi 
cago  and  to  participate  with  them  in  this,  patriotic 
celebration.  Upon  the  suspension  of  hostilities  of  a 
foreign  war,  the  first  in  our  history  for  over  half  a  cen 
tury,  we  have  met  in  a  spirit  of  peace,  profoundly 
grateful  for  the  glorious  advancement  already  made, 
and  earnestly  wishing  in  the  final  termination  to  real 
ize  an  equally  glorious  fulfillment.  With  no  feeling 
of  exultation,  but  with  profound  thankfulness,  we 
contemplate  the  events  of  the  past  five  months.  They 
have  been  too  serious  to  admit  of  boasting  or  vain- 
glorification.  They  have  been  so  full  of  responsibili 
ties,  immediate  and  prospective,  as  to  admonish  the 
soberest  judgment  and  counsel  the  most  conservative 
action. 

This  is  not  the  time  to  fire  the  imagination,  but 
rather  to  discover,  in  calm  reason,  the  way  to  truth, 
and  justice,  and  right,  and  when  discovered  to  follow 
it  with  fidelity  and  courage,  without  fear,  hesitation, 
or  weakness. 

The  war  has  put  upon  the  nation  grave  responsibili 
ties.  Their  extent  was  not  anticipated  and  could  not 
have  been  well  foreseen.  We  cannot  escape  the  obli 
gations  of  victory.  We  cannot  avoid  the  serious  ques- 


202 


OUR   COUNTRY  203 

tions  which  have  been  brought  home  to  us  by  the 
achievements  of  our  arms  on  land  and  sea.  We  are 
bound  in  conscience  to  keep  and  perform  the  coven 
ants  which  the  war  has  sacredly  sealed  with  man 
kind.  Accepting  war  for  humanity's  sake,  we  must 
accept  all  obligations  which  the  war  in  duty  and  honor 
imposed  upon  us.  The  splendid  victories  we  have 
achieved  would  be  our  eternal  shame  and  not  our 
everlasting  glory  if  they  led  to  the  weakening  of  our 
original  lofty  purpose  or  to  the  desertion  of  the  im 
mortal  principles  on  which  the  national  government 
was  founded,  and  in  accordance  with  whose  ennob 
ling  spirit  it  has  ever  since  been  faithfully  administered. 

The  war  with  Spain  was  undertaken  not  that  the 
United  States  should  increase  its  territory,  but  that 
oppression  at  our  very  doors  should  be  stopped.  This 
noble  sentiment  must  continue  to  animate  us,  and  we 
must  give  to  the  world  the  full  demonstration  of  the 
sincerity  of  our  purpose.  Duty  determines  destiny. 
Destiny  which  results  from  duty  performed  may  bring 
anxiety  and  perils,  but  never  failure  and  dishonor. 
Pursuing  duty  may  not  always  lead  by  smooth  paths. 
Another  course  may  look  easier  and  more  attractive, 
but  pursuing  duty  for  duty's  sake  is  always  sure  and 
safe  and  honorable.  It  is  not  within  the  power  of  man 
to  foretell  the  future  and  to  solve  unerringly  its  mighty 
problems.  Almighty  God  has  His  plans  and  methods 
for  human  progress,  and  not  infrequently  they  are 
shrouded  for  the  time  being  in  impenetrable  mystery. 
Looking  backward  we  can  see  how  the  hand  of  destiny 
builded  for  us  and  assigned  us  tasks  whose  full  meaning 


204  AMERICAN    PATRIOTISM 

was  not  apprehended  even  by  the  wisest  statesmen  oi 
their  times. 

Our  colonial  ancestors  did  not  enter  upon  their  war 
originally  for  independence.  Abraham  Lincoln  did 
not  start  out  to  free  the  slaves,  but  to  save  the  Union. 
The  war  with  Spain  was  not  of  our  seeking,  and  some 
of  its  consequences  may  not  be  to  our  liking.  Our 
vision  is  often  defective.  Short-sightedness  is  a  com 
mon  malady,  but  the  closer  we  get  to  things  or  they 
get  to  us  the  clearer  our  view  and  the  less  obscure  our 
duty.  Patriotism  must  be  faithful  as  well  as  fervent; 
statesmanship  must  be  wise  as  well  as  fearless — not  the 
statesmanship  which  will  command  the  applause  of 
the  hour,  but  the  approving  judgment  of  posterity. 

The  progress  of  a  nation  can  alone  prevent  degenera 
tion.  There  must  be  new  life  and  purpose,  or  there 
will  be  weakness  and  decay.  There  must  be  broaden 
ing  of  thought  as  well  as  broadening  of  trade.  Terri 
torial  expansion  is  not  alone  and  always  necessary  to 
national  advancement.  There  must  be  a  constant 
movement  toward  a  higher  and  nobler  civilization,  a 
civilization  that  shall  make  its  conquests  without  re 
sort  to  war  and  achieve  its  greatest  victories  pursuing 
the  arts  of  peace. 

In  our  present  situation  duty — and  duty  alone— 
should  prescribe  the  boundary  of  our  responsibilities 
and  the  scope  of  our  undertakings.  The  final  deter 
mination  of  our  purposes  awaits  the  action  of  the  emi 
nent  men  who  are  charged  by  the  executive  with  the 
making  of  the  treaty  of  peace,  and  that  of  the  senate 
of  the  United  States,  which,  by  our  constitution,  must 


OUR   COUNTRY  205 

ratify  and  confirm  it.  We  all  hope  and  pray  that  the 
confirmation  of  peace  will  be  as  just  and  humane  as 
the  conduct  and  consummation  of  the  war.  When 
the  work  of  the  treaty-makers  is  done  the  work  of  the 
law-makers  will  begin.  The  one  will  settle  the  ex 
tent  of  our  responsibilities;  the  other  must  provide 
the  legislation  to  meet  them.  The  army  and  navy 
have  nobly  and  heroically  performed  their  part.  May 
God  give  the  executive  and  congress  wisdom  to  per 
form  theirs. 


BEHOLD  THE  AMERICAN 

From  the  speech  of  Rev.  Dr.  T.  DeWitt  Talmage  at  the  eighty-first  an 
nual  dinner  of  the  New  England  Society  in  New  York,  December  22, 1886. 

MR.  PRESIDENT,  AND  ALL  YOU  GOOD  NEW  ENGLAND- 
ERS: — If  we  leave  to  the  evolutionists  to  guess  where 
we  came  from  and  to  the  theologians  to  prophesy 
where  are  we  going  to,  we  still  have  left  for  considera 
tion  the  fact  that  we  are  here;  and  we  are  here  at  an 
interesting  time.  Of  all  the  centuries  this  is  the  best 
century,  and  of  all  the  decades  of  the  century  this  is 
the  best  decade,  and  of  all  the  years  of  the  decade  this 
is  the  best  year,  and  of  all  the  months  of  the  year  this 
is  the  best  month,  and  of  all  the  nights  of  the  month 
this  is  the  best  night.  Many  of  these  advantages 
we  trace  straight  back  to  Forefathers'  Day,  about 
which  I  am  to  speak. 

Well,  what  about  this  Forefathers'  Day?  In  Brook 
lyn  they  say  the  Landing  of  the  Pilgrims  was  Decem 
ber  the  21st;  in  New  York  you  say  it  was  December 
the  22d.  You  are  both  right.  Not  through  the  spe 
cious  and  artful  reasoning  you  have  sometimes  indulged 
in,  but  by  a  little  historical  incident  that  seems  to  have 
escaped  your  attention.  You  see,  the  Forefathers 
landed  in  the  morning  of  December  the  21st,  but  about 
noon  that  day  a  pack  of  hungry  wolves  swept  down  the 
bleak  American  beach  looking  for  a  New  England 
dinner,  and  a  band  of  savages  out  for  a  tomahawk 
picnic  hove  in  sight,  and  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  thought 


20P 


BEHOLD   THE   AMERICAN  207 

it  best  for  safety  and  warmth  to  go  on  board  the 
Mayflower  and  pass  the  night.  And  during  the 
night  there  came  up  a  strong  wind  blowing  off  shore 
that  swept  the  Mayflower  from  its  moorings  clear 
out  to  sea,  and  there  was  a  prospect  that  our  Fore 
fathers,  having  escaped  oppression  in  foreign  lands, 
would  yet  go  down  under  an  oceanic  tempest.  But 
the  next  day  they  fortunately  got  control  of  their 
ship  and  steered  her  in,  and  the  second  time  the 
Forefathers  stepped  ashore. 

Brooklyn  celebrated  the  first  landing;  New  York  the 
second  landing.  So  I  say  Hail!  Hail!  to  both  cele 
brations,  for  one  day,  anyhow,  could  not  do  justice  to 
such  a  subject;  and  I  only  wish  I  could  have  kissed 
the  Blarney  stone  of  America,  which  is  Plymouth  Rock, 
so  that  I  might  have  done  justice  to  this  subject. 
Ah,  gentlemen,  that  Mayflower  was  the  ark  that 
floated  the  deluge  of  oppression,  and  Plymouth  Rock 
was  the  Ararat  on  which  it  landed. 

But  all  these  things  aside,  no  one  sitting  at  these 
tables  has  higher  admiration  for  the  Pilgrim  Fathers 
than  I  have — the  men  who  believed  in  two  great  doc 
trines,  which  are  the  foundation  of  every  religion  that 
is  worth  anything:  namely,  the  fatherhood  of  God  and 
the  brotherhood  of  Man — these  men  of  backbone  and 
endowed  with  that  great  and  magnificent  attribute  of 
stick-to-it-iveness.  Macaulay  said  that  no  one  ever 
sneered  at  the  Puritans  who  had  met  them  in  halls  of 
debate  or  crossed  swords  with  them  on  the  field  of 
battle.  They  are  sometimes  defamed  for  their  rigor 
ous  Sabbaths,  but  our  danger  is  in  the  opposite  direc- 


208  AMERICAN   PATRIOTISM 

tion  of  no  Sabbaths  at  all.  It  is  said  that  they  des 
troyed  witches.  I  wish  that  they  had  cleared  them 
all  out,  for  all  the  world  is  full  of  witches  yet,  and  if 
at  all  these  tables  there  is  a  man  who  has  not  some 
times  been  bewitched,  let  him  hold  up  his  glass  of  ice- 
water.  It  is  said  that  these  Forefathers  carried 
religion  into  everything,  and  before  a  man  kissed 
his  wife  he  asked  a  blessing,  and  afterward  said: 
"Having  received  another  favor  from  the  Lord,  let 
us  return  thanks."  But  our  great  need  now  is  more 
religion  in  every- day  life. 

Still,  take  it  all  in  all,  I  think  the  descendants  of  the 
Pilgrim  Fathers  are  as  good  as  their  ancestors,  and  in 
many  ways  better.  Children  are  apt  to  be  an  echo  of 
their  ancestors.  We  are  apt  to  put  a  halo  around  the 
Forefathers,  but  I  suspect  that  at  our  age  they  were 
very  much  like  ourselves.  People  are  not  wise  when 
they  long  for  the  good  old  days. 

But  though  your  Forefathers  may  not  have  been 
much,  if  any,  better  than  yourselves,  let  us  extol  them 
for  the  fact  that  they  started  this  country  in  the  right 
direction.  They  laid  the  foundation  for  American 
manhood.  The  foundation  must  be  more  solid  and 
firm  and  unyielding  than  any  other  part  of  the  struc 
ture.  On  that  Puritanic  foundation  we  can  safely 
build  all  nationalities.  Let  us  remember  that  the 
coming  American  is  to  be  an  admixture  of  all  foreign 
bloods.  In  about  twenty-five  or  fifty  years  the 
model  American  will  step  forth.  He  will  have  the 
strong  brain  of  the  German,  the  polished  manners  of 
the  French,  the  artistic  taste  of  the  Italian,  the  stanch 


BEHOLD   THE   AMERICAN  209 

heart  of  the  English,  the  steadfast  piety  of  the  Scotch, 
the  lightning  wit  of  the  Irish,  and  when  he  steps  forth, 
bone,  muscle,  nerve,  brain  entwined  with  the  fibers  of 
all  nationalities,  the  nations  will  break  out  in  the  cry: 
"Behold  the  American!" 

I  never  realized  what  this  country  was  and  is  as  on 
the  day  when  I  first  saw  some  of  these  gentlemen  of  the 
Army  and  Navy.  It  was  when  at  the  close  of  the  War 
our  armies  came  back  and  marched  in  review  before 
the  president's  stand  at  Washington.  I  do  not  care 
whether  a  man  was  a  Republican  or  a  Democrat,  a 
Northern  man  or  a  Southern  man,  if  he  had  any  emo 
tion  of  nature,  he  could  not  look  upon  it  without  weep 
ing.  God  knew  that  the  day  was  stupendous,  and  He 
cleared  the  heaven  of  cloud  and  mist  and  chill,  and 
sprung  the  blue  sky  as  the  triumphal  arch  for  the 
returning  warriors  to  pass  under.  From  Arlington 
Heights  the  spring  foliage  shook  out  its  welcome,  as  the 
hosts  came  over  the  hills,  and  the  sparkling  waters  of 
the  Potomac  tossed  their  gold  to  the  feet  of  the  battal 
ions  as  they  came  to  the  Long  Bridge  and  in  almost 
interminable  line  passed  over.  The  capitol  never 
seemed  so  majestic  as  that  morning:  snowy  white, 
looking  down  upon  the  tides  of  men  that  came  surg 
ing  down,  billow  after  billow.  Passing  in  silence,  yet  I 
heard  in  every  step  the  thunder  of  conflicts  through 
which  they  had  waded,  and  seemed  to  see  dripping 
from  their  smoke-blackened  flags  the  blood  of  our 
country's  martyrs.  For  the  best  part  of  two  days  we 
stood  and  watched  the  filing  on  of  what  seemed  endless 
battalions,  brigade  after  brigade,  division  after  divis- 


210  AMERICAN   PATRIOTISM 

ion,  host  after  host,  rank  beyond  rank;  ever  moving, 
ever  passing;  marching,  marching;  tramp,  tramp, 
tramp — thousands  after  thousands,  battery  front, 
arms  shouldered,  columns  solid,  shoulder  to  shoulder, 
wheel  to  wheel,  charger  to  charger,  nostril  to  nostril. 

Commanders  on  horses  with  their  manes  entwined 
with  roses,  and  necks  enchained  with  garlands,  frac 
tious  at  the  shouts  that  ran  along  the  line,  increasing 
from  the  clapping  of  children  clothed  in  white,  stand 
ing  on  the  steps  of  the  capitol,'  to  the  tumultuous 
vociferation  of  hundreds  of  thousands  of  enraptured 
multitudes,  crying  "Huzza!  Huzza!"  Gleaming  mus 
kets,  thundering  parks  of  artillery,  rumbling  pontoon 
wagons,  ambulances  from  whose  wheels  seemed  to 
sound  out  the  groans  of  the  crushed  and  the  dying  that 
they  had  carried.  These  men  came  from  balmy  Minne 
sota,  those  from  Illinois  prairies.  These  were  often 
hummed  to  sleep  by  the  pines  of  Oregon,  those  were 
New  England  lumbermen.  Those  came  out  of  the 
coal-shafts  of  Pennsylvania.  Side  by  side  in  one  great 
cause,  consecrated  through  fire  and  storm  and  dark 
ness,  brothers  in  peril,  on  their  way  home  from  Chan- 
cellorsville  and  Kenesaw  Mountain  and  Fredericks- 
burg,  in  lines  that  seemed  infinite  they  passed  on. 

We  gazed  and  wept  and  wondered,  lifting  up  our 
heads  to  see  if  the  end  had  come,  but  no!  Looking 
from  one  end  of  that  long  avenue  to  the  other,  we  saw 
them  yet  in  solid  column,  battery  front,  host  beyond 
host,  wheel  to  wheel,  charger  to  charger,  nostril  to 
nostril,  coming  as  it  were  from  under  the  capitol. 
Forward!  Forward!  Their  bayonets,  caught  in  the 


BEHOLD    THE   AMERICAN 


sun,  glimmered  and  flashed  and  blazed,  till  they  seemed 
like  one  long  river  of  silver,  ever  and  anon  changed 
into  a  river  of  fire.  No  end  to  the  procession,  no  rest 
for  the  eyes.  We  turned  our  heads  from  the  scene, 
unable  longer  to  look.  We  felt  disposed  to  stop  our 
ears,  but  still  we  heard  it,  marching,  marching;  tramp, 
tramp,  tramp.  But  hush  —  uncover  every  head!  Here 
they  pass,  the  remnant  of  ten  men  of  a  full  regiment. 
Silence!  Widowhood  and  orphanage  look  on  and 
wring  their  hands.  But  wheel  into  line,  all  ye  people! 
North,  South,  East,  West  —  all  decades,  all  centuries, 
all  millenniums!  Forward,  the  whole  line!  Huzza! 
Huzza! 


THE  HOLLANDER  AS  AN  AMERICAN 

Speech  of  Theodore  Roosevelt  at  the  eleventh  annual  dinner  of  the 
Holland  Society  of  New  York,  January  15,  1896. 

MR.  PRESIDENT,  GENTLEMEN,  AND  BRETHREN  OF 
THE  HOLLAND  SOCIETY: — I  am  more  than  touched,  if 
you  will  permit  me  to  begin  rather  seriously,  by  the 
way  you  have  greeted  me  to-night.  When  I  was  in 
Washington,  there  was  a  story  in  reference  to  a  certain 
president,  who  was  not  popular  with  some  of  his  own 
people  in  a  particular  western  state.  One  of  its  sena 
tors  went  to  the  White  House  and  said  he  wanted  a 
friend  of  his  appointed  postmaster  of  Topeka.  The 
president's  private  secretary  said,  "I  am  very  sorry, 
indeed,  sir,  but  the  president  wants  to  appoint  a  per 
sonal  friend."  Thereupon  the  senator  said:  "Well, 
for  God's  sake,  if  he  has  one  friend  in  Kansas,  let  him 
appoint  him!" 

There  have  been  periods  during  which  the  dissembled 
eulogies  of  the  able  press  and  my  relations  with  about 
every  politician  of  every  party  and  every  faction  have 
made  me  feel  I  would  like  to  know  whether  I  had  one 
friend  in  New  York,  and  here  I  feel  I  have  many.  And 
more  than  that,  gentlemen,  I  should  think  ill  of  my 
self  and  think  that  I  was  a  discredit  to  the  stock  from 
which  I  sprang  if  I  feared  to  go  on  along  the  path  that 
I  deemed  right,  whether  I  had  few  friends  or  many. 

I  am  glad  to  answer  to  the  toast,  "The  Hollander  as 
an  American."  The  Hollander  was  a  good  American, 


212 


HOLLANDER    AS    AN   AMERICAN 


because  the  Hollander  was  fitted  to  be  a  good  citizen. 
There  are  two  branches  of  government  which  must  be 
kept  on  a  high  plane,  if  any  nation  is  to  be  great.  A 
nation  must  have  laws  that  are  honestly  and  fearlessly 
administered,  and  it  must  be  ready,  in  time  of  need,  to 
fight;  and  we  men  of  Dutch  descent  have  here  to-night 
these  gentlemen  of  the  same  blood  as  ourselves  who 
represent  New  York  so  worthily  on  the  bench,  and  a 
major-general  of  the  army  of  the  United  States. 

It  seems  to  me,  at  times,  that  the  Dutch  in  America 
have  one  or  two  lessons  to  teach.  We  want  to  teach 
the  very  refined  and  very  cultivated  men  who  believe 
it  impossible  that  the  United  States  can  ever  be  right 
in  a  quarrel  with  another  nation  —  a  little  of  the  ele 
mentary  virtue  of  patriotism.  And  we  also  wish  to 
teach  our  fellow  citizens  that  laws  are  put  on  the 
statute  books  to  be  enforced  and  that  if  it  is  not  in 
tended  they  shall  be  enforced  it  is  a  mistake  to  put  a 
Dutchman  in  office  to  enforce  them. 

The  lines  put  on  the  program  underneath  my 
toast  begin:  "America!  half  brother  of  the  world!" 
America,  half  brother  of  the  world  —  and  all  Ameri 
cans  full  brothers  one  to  the  other.  That  is  the  way 
that  line  should  be  concluded.  The  prime  virtue  of 
the  Hollander  here  in  America  and  the  way  in  which 
he  has  most  done  credit  to  his  stock  as  a  Hollander,  is 
that  he  has  ceased  to  be  a  Hollander  and  has  become 
an  American,  absolutely.  We  are  not  Dutch-Ameri 
cans.  We  are  not  "Americans"  with  a  hyphen  be 
fore  it.  We  are  Americans  pure  and  simple,  and  we 
have  a  right  to  demand  that  the  other  people  whose 

AMEttICA   FIRST  -  14. 


214  AMERICAN   PATRIOTISM 

stocks  go  to  compose  our  great  nation,  like  ourselves, 
shall  cease  to  be  aught  else  and  shall  become  Americans. 

And  further  than  that,  we  have  another  thing  to 
demand,  and  that  is  that  if  they  do  honestly  and  in 
good  faith  become  Americans,  those  shall  be  regarded 
as  infamous  who  dare  to  discriminate  against  them 
because  of  creed  or  because  of  birthplace.  When  New 
Amsterdam  had  but  a  few  hundred  souls,  among  those 
few  hundred  souls  no  less  than  eighteen  different  race 
stocks  were  represented,  and  almost  as  many  creeds 
as  there  were  race  stocks,  and  the  great  contribution 
that  the  Hollander  gave  to  the  American  people  was 
the  inestimable  lesson  of  complete  civil  and  religious 
liberty.  It  would  be  honor  enough  for  this  stock  to 
have  been  the  first  to  put  on  American  soil  the  public 
school,  the  great  engine  for  grinding  out  American 
citizens,  the  one  institution  for  which  Americans 
should  stand  more  stiffly  than  for  aught  other. 

Whenever  America  has  demanded  of  her  sons  that 
they  should  come  to  her  aid,  whether  in  time  of  peace 
or  in  time  of  war,  the -Americans  of  Dutch  stock  have 
been  among  the  first  to  spring  to  the  aid  of  the  country. 
We  earnestly  hope  that  there  will  not  in  the  future  be 
any  war  with  any  power,  but  assuredly  if  there  should 
be  such  a  war  one  thing  may  be  taken  for  certain,  and 
that  is  that  every  American  of  Dutch  descent  will  be 
found  on  the  side  of  the  United  States.  We  give  the 
amplest  credit,  that  some  people  now,  to  their  shame, 
grudge  to  the  profession  of  arms,  which  we  have  here 
to-night  represented  by  a  man,  who,  when  he  has  the 
title  of  a  major  general  of  the  army  of  the  United 


THE  HOLLANDER  AS  AN  AMERICAN  215 

States,  has  a  title  as  honorable  as  any  that  there  is  on 
the  wide  earth.  We  also  need  to  teach  the  lesson,  that 
the  Hollander  taught,  of  not  refusing  to  do  the  small 
things  because  the  day  of  large  things  had  not  yet 
come  or  was  in  the  past;  of  not  waiting  until  the 
chance  may  come  to  distinguish  ourselves  in  arms,  and 
meanwhile  neglecting  the  plain,  prosaic  duties  of 
citizenship  which  call  upon  us  every  hour,  every  day 
of  our  lives. 

The  Dutch  kept  their  freedom  in  the  great  contest 
with  Spain,  not  merely  because  they  warred  valiantly, 
but  because  they  did  their  duty  as  burghers  in  their 
cities,  because  they  strove  according  to  the  light  that 
was  in  them  to  be  good  citizens  and  to  act  as  such. 
And  we  all  here  to-night  should  strive  so  to  live  that 
we  Americans  of  Dutch  descent  shall  not  seem  to  have 
shrunk  in  this  respect,  compared  to  our  fathers  who 
spoke  another  tongue  and  lived  under  other  laws  be 
yond  the  ocean;  so  that  it  shall  be  acknowledged  in 
the  end  to  be  what  it  is,  a  discredit  to  a  man  if  he  does 
not  in  times  of  peace  do  all  that  in  him  lies  to  make 
the  government  of  the  city,  the  government  of  the 
country,  better  and  cleaner  by  his  efforts. 

I  spoke  of  the  militant  spirit  as  if  it  may  only  be 
shown  in  time  of  war.  I  think  that  if  any  of  you  gentle 
men,  no  matter  how  peaceful  you  may  naturally  be, 
and  I  am  very  peaceful  naturally,  if  you  would  under 
take  the  administration  of  the  Police  Department  you 
would  have  plenty  of  fighting  on  hand  before  you 
would  get  through;  and  if  you  are  true  to  your  blood 
you  will  try  to  do  the  best  you  can,  fighting  or  not 


AMERICAN   PATRIOTISM 


fighting.  You  will  make  up  your  mind  that  you  will 
make  mistakes,  because  you  won't  make  anything 
if  you  don't  make  some  mistakes,  and  you  will  go  for 
ward  according  to  your  lights,  utterly  heedless  of  what 
either  politicians  or  newspapers  may  say,  knowing 
that  if  you  act  as  you  feel  bound  according  to  your 
conscience  to  act,  you  will  then  at  least  have  the  right 
when  you  go  out  of  office,  however  soon,  to  feel  that 
you  go  out  without  any  regret,  and  to  feel  that  you 
have  according  to  your  capacity,  warred  valiantly  for 
what  you  deemed  to  be  the  right. 

These,  then,  are  the  qualities  that  I  should  claim 
for  the  Hollander  as  an  American:  In  the  first  place, 
that  he  has  cast  himself  without  reservation  into  the 
current  of  American  life;  that  he  is  an  American,  pure 
and  simple,  and  nothing  else.  In  the  next  place,  that 
he  works  hand  in  hand  and  shoulder  to  shoulder  with 
his  fellow  Americans,  without  any  regard  to  differences 
of  creed  or  to  differences  of  race  and  religion,  if  only 
they  are  good  Americans.  In  the  third  place,  that  he  is 
willing,  when  the  need  shall  arise,  to  fight  for  his  coun 
try;  and  in  the  fourth  place,  and  finally,  that  he  recog 
nizes  that  this  is  a  country  of  laws  and  not  men,  that 
it  is  his  duty  as  an  honest  citizen  to  uphold  the  laws, 
to  strive  for  honesty,  to  strive  for  a  decent  adminis 
tration,  and  to  do  all  that  in  him  lies,-  by  incessant, 
patient  work  in  our  government,  municipal  or  national, 
to  bring  about  the  day  when  it  shall  be  taken  as  a  mat 
ter  of  course  that  every  public  official  is  to  execute  a 
law  honestly,  and  that  no  capacity  in  a  public  officer 
shall  atone  if  he  is  personally  dishonest. 


THE  ADOPTED  CITIZEN 

Speech  of  Gen.  Ulysses  S.  Grant  at  the  115th  annual  banquet  of  the 
Chamber  of  Commerce  of  the  State  of  New  York,  May  8.  1883. 

MR.  PRESIDENT  AND  GENTLEMEN  OP  THE  CHAMBER 
OF  COMMERCE  AND  GUESTS: — I  am  very  much  obliged 
to  your  president  for  calling  upon  me  first,  because  the 
agony  will  soon  be  over  and  I  shall  enjoy  the  misery 
of  the  rest  of  you. 

The  first  part  of  this  toast— The  United  States- 
would  be  a  voluminous  one  to  respond  to  on  a  single 
occasion.  Bancroft  commenced  to  publish  his  notes 
on  the  History  of  the  United  States,  starting  even  be 
fore  President  Lane  established  this  Chamber,  which 
I  think  was  something  over  one  hundred  years  ago. 
Bancroft,  I  say,  commenced  earlier,  and  I  am  not  pre 
pared  to  dispute  his  word  if  he  should  say  that  he  had 
kept  an  accurate  journal  from  the  time  he  commenced 
to  write  about  the  country  to  the  present-  because 
there  has  been  no  period  of  time  when  I  have  beeii 
alive  that  I  have  not  heard  of  Bancroft,  and  I  should 
be  equally  credulous  if  President  Lane  should  tell  me 
that  he  was  here  at  the  founding  of  this  Institution. 
But  instead  of  bringing  those  volumes  of  Bancroft's 
here,  and  reading  them  to  you  on  this  occasion,  I  will 
let  the  reporters  publish  them  as  the  prelude  to  what 
I  am  going  to  say. 

I  think  Bancroft  has  finished  up  to  a  little  after  the 
time  that  President  Lane  established  this  Chamber 


217 


218  AMERICAN   PATRIOTISM 

of  Commerce,  and  I  will  let  you  take  the  records  of 
what  he  (Lane)  has  written  and  what  he  has  said  in 
their  monthly  meetings  and  publish  them  as  the  second 
chapter  of  my  speech.  And,  gentlemen,  those  two 
chapters  you  will  find  the  longest;  they  will  not 
amount  to  much  more  than  what  I  have  to  say  taking 
up  the  subject  at  the  present  time. 

But  in  speaking  of  the  United  States,  we  who  are 
native-born  have  a  country  of  which  we  may  well  be 
proud.  Those  of  us  who  have  been  abroad  are  better 
able,  perhaps,  to  make  the  comparison  of  our  enjoy 
ments  and  our  comforts  than  those  who  have  always 
stayed  at  home.  It  has  been  the  fortune,  I  pre 
sume,  of  the  majority  here  to  compare  the  life  and 
the  circumstances  of  the  average  people  abroad 
with  ours  here.  We  have  here  a  country  that  affords 
room  for  all  and  room  for  every  enterprise.  We  have 
institutions  which  encourage  every  man  who  has  in 
dustry  and  ability  to  rise  from  the  position  in  which 
he  may  find  himself  to  any  position  in  the  land.  It 
is  hardly  worth  my  while  to  dwell  upon  the  subject, 
but  there  is  one  point  which  I  notice  in  the  toast,  that 
1  would  like  to  say  a  word  about — "May  those  who 
seek  the  blessings  of  its  free  institutions  and  the  pro 
tection  of  its  flag  remember  the  obligations  they  im 
pose."  I  think  there  is  a  text  that  my  friend  Mr. 
Beecher,1  on  the  left,  or  my  friend  Dr.  Newman,2  on 
the  rigH,  might  well  preach  a  long  sermon  upon.  I 
shall  say  only  a  few  words. 

We  offer  an  asylum  to  every  man  of  foreign  birth 

»Henry  Ward  Beecher,  2John  P.  Newman, 


THE   ADOPTED    CITIZEN  219 

who  chooses  to  come  here  and  settle  upon  our  soil;  we 
make  of  him,  after  a  few  years'  residence  only,  a  citizen 
endowed  with  all  the  rights  that  any  of  us  have,  ex 
cept  perhaps  the  single  one  of  being  elected  to  the 
presidency  of  the  United  States.  There  is  no  other 
privilege  that  a  native,  no  matter  what  he  has  done 
for  the  country,  has  that  the  adopted  citizen  of  five 
years'  standing  has  not  got.  I  contend  that  that 
places  upon  him  an  obligation  which,  I  am  sorry  to 
say,  many  of  them  do  not  seem  to  feel. 

We  have  witnessed  on  many  occasions  here  the  for 
eign,  the  adopted,  citizen  claiming  many  rights  and 
privileges  because  he  was  an  adopted  citizen.  That 
is  all  wrong.  Let  him  come  here  and  enjoy  all  the 
privileges  that  we  enjoy,  but  let  him  fulfill  all  the  obli 
gations  that  we  are  expected  to  fulfill.  After  he  has 
adopted  it,  let  this  be  his  country — a  country  that  he 
will  fight  for,  and  die  for,  if  necessary.  I  am  glad  to 
say  that  the  great  majority  of  them  do  it,  but  some 
of  them  who  mingle  in  politics  seem  to  bank  largely 
on  the  fact  that  they  are  adopted  citizens;  and  that 
class  I  am  opposed  to  as  much  as  I  am  opposed  to  many 
other  things  that  I  see  are  popular  now. 

I  know  that  other  speakers  will  come  forward,  and 
when  Mr.  Beecher  and  Dr.  Newman  speak,  I  hope 
they  will  say  a  few  words  on  the  text  which  I  read. 


'OLD    IRONSIDES"— THE    FRIGATE    CONSTITUTION— 1812 


OUR    NAVY 

Speech  of  Hampton  L.  Carson,  delivered  at  the  dinner  of  the  Union 
League,  Philadelphia,  April  5,  1899,  in  honor  of  Captain  Charles  E.  Clark, 
U.  S.  N.,  late  Commander  of  the  battleship  "Oregon." 

MR.  PRESIDENT  AND  GENTLEMEN  or  THE  UNION 
LEAGUE: — It  was  my  good  fortune,  some  eighteen 
months  ago,  to  be  in  the  city  of  Seattle,  when  the 
"Monterey"  was  lying  in  the  harbor  under  the  com 
mand  of  Captain  Clark.  At  the  time  of  my  visit  clear 
skies,  placid  waters  and  silent  guns  gave  little  indica 
tion  of  the  awful  responsibility  that  was  soon  to  be 
imposed  upon  the  gallant  commander.  My  boys, 
having  met  him,  were,  like  myself,  intensely  interested 


220 


OUR   NAVY 

in  the  outcome  of  his  voyage;  and  I  can  say  to  him  that 
the  pulsations  of  the  engines  which  drove  the  Oregon 
through  fourteen  thousand  miles  of  tropic  seas  were 
accompanied  by  the  sympathetic  beatings  of  hearts 
which  had  learned  to  love  and  respect  this  great  cap 
tain  as  he  richly  deserved. 

The  American  Navy !  The  most  concise  tribute  that 
I  ever  heard  paid  to  the  sailors  of  the  United  States 
was  contained  in  the  answer  of  a  man  from  Indiana, 
who  was  an  applicant  for  office  under  General  Grant, 
just  after  the  Civil  Service  rules  had  gone  into  opera 
tion.  The  applicant  was  apprehensive  as  to  his  ability 
to  respond  to  the  questions,  but  one  of  his  answers 
captured  the  board  of  examiners  as  well  as  the  presi 
dent,  and  he  secured  the  place.  The  question  was, 
"How  many  sailors  did  Great  Britain  send  here,  dur 
ing  the  war  of  the  Revolution,  for  the  purpose  of  sub 
duing  us?"  and  the  answer  was,  "More  by  a 

sight  than  ever  got  back." 

When  Louis  XIV,  in  order  to  check  what  he  per 
ceived  to  be  the  growing  supremacy  of  England  upon 
the  seas,  determined  to  establish  a  navy,  he  sent  for 
his  minister  Colbert,  and  said  to  him,  "I  wish  a  navy- 
how  can  I  create  it !"  Colbert  replied,  "Make  as  many 
galley  slaves  as  you  cano"  Thereupon  every  Hugue 
not  who  refused  to  doff  his  bonnet  on  the  street  as  the 
king  passed  by,  every  boy  of  seventeen  who  could 
give  no  account  of  himself,  every  vagrant  without  an 
occupation,  was  seized,  convicted,  and  sent  to  the  gal 
leys.  Could  a  navy  of  heroes  be  made  of  galley  slaves  1 
The  history  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race  says  'No." 


222  AMERICAN   PATRIOTISM 

On  the  twenty-second  day  of  December,  1775,  the 
navy  of  the  United  States  was  born  on  the  waters  of 
our  Delaware.  On  that  day  Esek  Hopkins,  of  Rhode 
Island,  was  placed  in  command  of  a  little  fleet  of  eight 
vessels — two  of  them  ships,  two  of  them  brigs,  the 
others  very  much  smaller.  The  English  officers 
sneered  in  derision  at  "the  fleet  of  whaleboats."  The 
rattlesnake  flag — a  yellow  flag  with  a  pine  tree  in  the 
centre  and  a  rattlesnake  coiled  beneath  its  branches, 
with  the  words  "Don't  tread  on  me" — was  run  to  the 
masthead  of  the  Providence,  being  hauled  there  by 
the  hands  of  the  first  lieutenant,  John  Paul  Jones. 
That  little  fleet  of  eight  vessels,  mounting  only  114 
guns,  was  sent  forth  to  confront  a  naval  power  of  112 
battleships  with  3,714  guns — not  a  single  gun  of  ours 
throwing  a  ball  heavier  than  nine  pounds,  while  five 
hundred  of  the  English  guns  threw  a  weight  of  metal 
of  double  that  amount.  Wasn't  it  an  audacious  thing? 
Why,  it  seems  to  me  one  of  the  marvels  of  human 
history  when  I  reflect  upon  what  was  attempted  by 
the  Americans  of  1776. 

Loivk  at  the  situation.  Thirteen  different  colonies 
strung  along  a  narrow  strip  of  coast;  three  thousand 
miles  of  rolling  ocean  on  the  one  side  and  three  thou 
sand  miles  of  impenetrable  wilderness  on  the  other; 
colonies  with  infinite  diversity  of  interests — diverse 
in  blood,  diverse  in  conditions  of  society,  diverse  in 
ambition,  diverse  in  pursuits — the  English  Puritan 
on  the  rock  of  Plymouth,  the  Knickerbocker  Dutch 
on  the  shores  of  the  Hudson,  the  Jersey  Quaker  on  the 
other  side  of  the  Delaware,  the  Swede  extending  from 


OUR   NAVY 

here  to  Wilmington,  Maryland  bisected  by  our  great 
bay  of  the  Chesapeake,  Virginia  cut  in  half  by  the  same 
water  way,  North  Carolina  and  South  Carolina  lying 
south  of  impenetrable  swamps  as  inaccessible  to  com 
munication  as  a  range  of  mountains,  and  farther  south 
the  sparsely-settled  colony  of  Georgia.  Huguenot,  • 
Cavalier,  Catholic,  Quaker,  Dutchman,  Puritan,  Men- 
nonite,  Moravian,  and  Church  of  England  men;  and 
yet,  under  the  hammer  stroke  of  British  oppression, 
thirteen  colonies  were  welded  into  one  thunderbolt, 
which  was  launched  at  the  throne  of  George  III. 

That  little  navy  under  Hopkins — where  were  those 
sailors  bred?  Read  Burke's  speech  on  the  conciliation 
of  America.  They  sprang  from  the  loins  of  hardy 
fishermen  amidst  tumbling  fields  of  ice  on  the  banks 
of  Newfoundland,  from  those  who  had  speared  whales 
in  the  tepid  waters  of  Brazil,  or  who  had  pursued  their 
gigantic  game  into  the  Arctic  zone  or  beneath  the  light 
of  the  Southern  Cross.  That  fleet  of  eight  ships  sailed 
from  the  Delaware  on  the  twenty-second  of  Decem 
ber,  1775,  and  proceeded  to  the  island  of  New  Provi 
dence,  among  the  Bahamas.  Our  colonies  and  our 
armies  were  without  arms,  without  powder,  without 
munitions  of  war.  The  very  first  exploit  of  the  fleet 
was  the  capture,  on  the  nineteenth  of  March,  1776,  of 
150  cannon,  130  barrels  of  powder  and  eight  warships, 
which  were  carried  in  triumph  into  Long  Island  Sound. 
But  what  of  American  heroism  when  the  soldiers  of 
Howe,  of  Clinton,  of  Carleton,  and  of  Gage  came  here 
to  fight  the  farmers  of  Pennsylvania,  of  Connecticut 
and  Virginia,  and  the  gay  cavaliers  who  loved  adven- 


AMERICAN   PATRIOTISM 

ture?  The  British  soldiers  had  conquered  India  under 
Sir  Robert  NClive  and  Sir  Eyre  Coote;  they  had  been 
the  heroes  of  Plassey  and  Pondicherry;  men  who  had 
subjected  to  British  dominion  a  country  almost  as 
extensive  as  our  own  fair  republic  and  containing  one 
hundred  and  ninety  millions  of  souls.  Here  they  found 
themselves  faced  by  men  of  their  own  blood,  men  in 
whose  breasts  burned  the  spirit  and  the  love  of  that 
liberty  which  was  to  encircle  the  heavens.  On  the 
glory-crowned  heights  of  Bunker  Hill  the  patriots  gazed 
at  the  rafters  of  their  own  burning  dwellings  in  the  town 
of  Charlestown,  and  heard  the  cannon  shots  hurled 
from  British  ships  against  the  base  of  the  hill.  Three 
times  did  scarlet  regiments  ascend  that  hill  only  to  be 
driven  back;  the  voice  of  that  idiot  boy,  Job  Pray, 
ringing  out  above  the  din  of  battle,  "Let  them  come 
on  to  Breed's — the  people  will  teach  them  the  law." 

When  the  evacuation  by  the  British  of  the  metropo 
lis  of  New  England  was  effected  by  the  troops  under 
the  command  of  a  Virginia  soldier,  General  Washing 
ton,  then  for  the  first  time  did  sectionalism  and  par 
tisanship  and  divisions  on  narrow  lines  vanish;  the 
patriots  who  had  fought  at  Bunker  Hill  were  now  no 
longer  to  be  known  as  the  troops  of  Massachusetts, 
of  Connecticut,  or  of  Rhode  Island,  but  henceforth  it 
was  the  Continental  Army.  On  the  very  day  when 
the  British  were  driven  out  of  Boston,  John  Paul  Jones, 
with  that  historic  rattlesnake  flag,  and,  floating  above 
it,  not  the  Stars  and  Stripes,  but  the  Stripes  with  the 
Union  Jack,  entered  the  waters  of  Great  Britain ;  and 
then  it  was  seen  that  an  American  captain  with  an 


OUR   NAVY 

American  ship  and  American  sailors  had  the  pluck  to 
push  out  into  foreign  seas  and  to  beard  the  British 
lion  in  his  den.  The  same  channel  which  had  witnessed 
the  victories  of  De  Ruyter  and  Von  Tromp,  which 
was  the  scene  of  Blake's  victory  over  the  Dutch,  and 
where  the  father  of  our  great  William  Penn  won  his 
laurels  as  an  admiral,  was  now  the  scene  of  the  exploits 
of  an  American  captain  fighting  beneath  an  American 
flag  for  American  rights  inherited  from  old  mother 
England,  who,  in  a  moment  of  fc-getfulness,  had 
sought  to  deprive  her  offspring  of  liberty.  I  know  of  no 
more  thrilling  incident  in  revolutionary  naval  annals 
than  the  fight  between  the  Serapis  and  the  Bon 
Homme  Richard,  when  Paul  Jones,  on  the  burning 
deck  of  a  sinking  ship,  lashed  his  yard  arms  to  those 
of  the  enemy  and  fought  hand  to  hand,  man  to  man, 
until  the  British  colors  struck,  and  then,  under  the  very 
cliffs  of  Old  England,  were  run  up  for  the  first  time 
the  Stars  and  Stripes — with  a  field  of  blue  into  which 
the  skillful  fingers  of  Betsy  Ross,  of  Philadelphia, 
had  woven  inextinguishable  stars;  the  red  stripes 
typifying  the  glory,  the  valor,  and  the  self-sacrifice  of 
the  men  who  died  that  liberty  might  live;  and  the 
white,  emblematic  of  purity,  fitly  representing  those 
principles  to  preserve  which  these  men  had  sanctified 
themselves  by  an  immortal  self-dedication.  And  there, 
too,  in  the  Continental  Navy  was  Richard  Dale,  the 
young  "Middy,"  who  fought  beside  Paul  Jones;  and 
Joshua  Barney;  and  John  Barry;  and  Nicholas  Biddle 
of  Philadelphia,  who  later,  in  the  gallant  little  Ran 
dolph,  in  order  to  help  a  convoyed  fleet  of  American 

AMERICA    FIRST — 15. 


AMERICAN   PATRIOTISM 


merchantmen  to  escape,  boldly  attacked  the  battle 
ship  Yarmouth;  and  when  it  was  found  that  he  was 
doomed  to  defeat,  blew  up  his  vessel,  perishing  with 
all  his  crew,  rather  than  strike  the  colors  of  the  newly- 
born  republic. 

All  honor  to  the  navy  of  the  United  States!  I  never 
can  read  of  its  exploits  —  peaceful  citizen  as  I  am  — 
without  my  blood  bubbling  with  a  joyous  sense  of  exul 
tation  at  the  thought  that  the  flag  which  has  swept 
the  seas,  carrying  liberty  behind  it,  is  the  flag  which 
is  destined  to  sweep  the  seas  again  and  carry  liberty, 
civilization,  and  all  the  blessings  of  free  government 
into  benighted  islands  far,  far  from  hence. 

Why,  gentlemen,  the  story  of  the  exploits  of  our 
little  fleets  reads  like  a  romance.  At  the  end  of  the 
Revolutionary  War  eight  hundred  British  ships,  fifteen 
of  them  battleships,  had  surrendered  to  the  prowess 
of  the  American  navy,  together  with  twelve  thousand 
five  hundred  prisoners  captured  by  less  than  three 
thousand  men;  and  in  that  war  our  country  had  pro 
duced  the  boldest  admirals  that,  up  to  that  time,  civili 
zation  had  known,  and  the  greatest  fighting  naval 
heroes  that  the  world  had  seen. 

Then  came  the  War  of  1812,  to  establish  sailors' 
rights  upon  the  high  seas,  when  the  American  navy 
again  proved  victor  despite  overwhelming  odds.  I 
have  in  my  possession  a  list  of  the  British  and  Ameri 
can  vessels  at  the  outbreak  of  that  war;  and  if  I  were 
to  represent  them  by  something  tangible  in  order  to 
indicate  the  proportions  of  each,  I  would  say,  taking 
this  box  lid  for  example  (illustrating  with  the  stem  of  a 


OUR  NAVY 


rose  upon  the  cover  of  a  discarded  flower  box),  that 
if  you  were  to  draw  a  line  across  here,  near  the  top, 
you  would  have  sufficient  space  in  the  narrow  strip 
above  the  dividing  line  to  write  the  names  of  all  the 
American  ships,  while  the  entire  remaining  space  would 
not  be  more  than  sufficient  for  the  English  fleet,  which 
was  more  than  thirty  times  the  size  of  its  antagonist. 
The  ships  which  under  Nelson  had  fought  at  the  Nile 
and  had  won  imperishable  glory  at  Trafalgar,  coming 
into  our  waters,  struck  their  flags  time  and  again.  The 
glorious  old  "Ironsides"  (the  Constitution)  captured 
the  Guerriere,  the  Java,  the  Cyane,  and  Levant.  The 
United  States  took  the  Macedonian;  the  Wasp  de 
stroyed  the  Frolic,  while  on  the  lakes  we  point  with 
pride  to  the  victories  of  Perry  and  MacDonough.  When 
battle  after  battle  had  been  fought  it  was  found  that, 
of  eighteen  fixed  engagements,  seventeen  were  vic 
tories  for  the  Stars  and  Stripes.  And  this  over  the 
greatest  maritime  war  power  of  the  world! 

Philadelphia  is  honorably  associated  with  the  glo 
ries  of  our  navy.  Our  early  battleships,  though  not  all 
built  here,  were  planned  and  constructed  by  Joshua 
Humphreys,  a  Philadelphian,  the  predecessor  of  our 
great  shipbuilder  'of  to-day,  Charles  H.  Cramp. 

Need  I  speak  of  the  navy  from  1861  to  1865,  or  tell 
of  the  exploits  of  those  gallant  fleets  which  clove  a 
pathway  down  the  valley  of  the  Ohio,  of  the  Tennessee, 
and  of  the  Mississippi,  in  order  that  liberty  might  ride 
un  vexed  from  the  lakes  to  the  gulf?  Need  I  dwell  upon 
the  part  taken  by  the  guest  of  this  evening,  who  was 
an  officer  who  fought  under  Farragut? 


AMERICAN   PATRIOTISM 

In  our  recent  war  with  Spain  there  were  seme  who, 
in  doubting  moments,  yielded  to  that  atrabilious  dis 
position  which  has  been  so  well  described  by  Mr.  Tom- 
kins;  who  thought  that  our  ships  were  not  strong 
enough  to  hazard  an  encounter  with  the  fleets  of  Spain. 
But  meanwhile  there  was  doubling  "around  the  Horn" 
a  battleship,  with  a  captain  and  a  crew  whose  marvel 
ous  voyage  was  attracting  the  eyes  of  the  world.  Night 
after  night  we  took  up  the  map,  traced  his  course  from 
port  to  port,  and  our  hearts  beat  high,  our  lips  were 
firmly  compressed,  the  color  faded  from  our  cheeks 
with  excitement,  but  our  eyes  blazed  with  exultant 
anticipation  as  nearer  and  nearer  to  Pernambuco  did 
he  come.  We  all  now  feel,  judging  of  the  possibilities 
by  actual  achievement,  that  had  Captain  Clark  en 
countered  the  enemy's  ships,  he  could  and  would  have 
successfully  fought  and  defeated  the  entire  Spanish 
fleet.  He  carried  his  ship  ready  for  instant  actions, 
every  man  at  his  post.  God  bless  that  crew !  God  bless 
those  stokers,  far  down  below  those  decks,  confident 
that  the  captain  who  commanded  them  was  on  the 
bridge,  and  that  he  would  never  flinch  nor  fail  in  the 
hour  of  trial!  I  have  often  tried  to  draw  a  mental 
picture  of  what  the  scene  must  have  been  when  the 
Oregon  steamed  in  to  join  the  fleet  before  Santiago; 
when  the  white  jackets  on  the  yard-arms  tossed  their 
caps  in  the  air,  and  southern  tars  gave  back  to  Yankee 
cheers  a  lusty  welcome  to  the  man  who  for  so  long, 
against  all  odds,  with  no  encouraging  advices,  with 
unknown  terrors  all  about  him,  had  never  flinched 
from  duty,  and  who,  when  the  last  summons  came,  re- 


OUR   NAVY  229 

sponded  in  the  words  of  Colonel  Newcomb,  Adsum— 
"I  am  here." 

On  the  morning  of  the  third  of  July,  1898,  there 
stood  the  frowning  Morro  Castle,  the  prison  of  the 
glorious  Hobson;  on  the  other  side  the  fortress  of 
Estrella;  the  narrow  channel  blocked  by  the  wreck  of 
the  Merrimac;  the  Brooklyn,  the  Oregon,  the  Texas, 
the  Indiana,  the  Iowa  and  the  Massachusetts  all 
watching  that  orifice.  Then  black  smoke  rolled 
from  the  tunnels  of  the  enemy's  ships,  indicating 
that  the  tiger  had  roused  him  from  his  lair  and  was 
making  a  rush  for  the  open  sea.  Up  went  the  signal 
on  the  flagstaff  of  the  Brooklyn,  "Forward — the 
enemy  is  approaching."  Then  engines  moved;  then 
guns  thundered  their  volleys;  then  sky  and  sea  be 
came  black  with  the  smoke  of  battle;  and  swiftly 
steamed  the  Oregon  in  pursuit  of  the  Cristobal  Colon. 
Beneath  well-directed  shots  the  monster  reeled,  like 
a  wounded  athlete,  to  the  beach;  and  then  from 
the  flagstaff  of  the  New  York  were  displayed  those 
signals  now  on  these  walls  before  your  eyes — "1-7-3; 
cornet;  2m-9m-7m" — which,  translated,  meant — and 
we  of  the  League  to-night  repeat  the  words — "Well 
done,  Oregon." 

Captain  Clark,  the  city  of  Philadelphia  has  always 
contributed  her  share  to  the  building  of  the  navy  and 
to  a  fitting  recognition  of  the  heroes  who  have  com 
manded  our  battleships.  In  the  old  churchyard  of  St. 
Mary's,  on  Fourth  Street,  sleep  the  bones  of  John 
Barry;  and  in  the  older  churchyard  of  St.  Peter's 
stands  the  monument  to  Decatur.  We  have  with  us 

AMERICA    FI11ST— 15. 


230  AMERICAN    PATRIOTISM 

also  the  ashes  of  Stewart,  who  commanded  "Old  Iron 
sides"  when  she  captured  the  Cyane  and  the  Levant; 
and  we  have  those  of  Bainbridge,  who  captured  the 
Java. 

In  reading  of  the  exploits  of  the  master  spirits  of  the 
past,  I  have  sometimes  wondered  whether  we  had 
men  of  to-day  who  were  their  equals.  My  answer  is 
this:  I  say  to  soldiers  and  sailors,  whether  of  our  Civil 
War  or  of  the  late  war  with  Spain,  you  are  worthy  of 
your  sires,  you  have  caught  the  inspiration  of  their 
glowing  deeds,  you  have  taken  up  the  burden  which 
they  threw  upon  your  shoulders,  and  though  in  time 
to  come  you  may  sleep  in  unmarked  graves,  the  mem 
ory  of  your  deeds  will  live;  and,  like  your  sires,  you 
have  become  immortal. 

To  fight  for  liberty  is  indeed  a  privilege.  "Dis 
guise  thyself  as  thou  wilt,  still,  Slavery,  thou  art  a 
bitter  draught;  and,  though  thousands  in  all  ages  have 
been  made  to  drink  thee,  thou  art  no  less  bitter  on  that 
account.  'Tis  thou,  O  Liberty !  thrice  sweet  and  graci 
ous  goddess,  whose  taste  is  grateful,  and  ever  will  be 
so  till  nature  herself  shall  change.  No  tint  of  words 
can  spot  thy  snowy  mantle,  nor  chemic  power  turn  thy 
scepter  into  iron.  With  thee  to  smile  upon  him,  as  he 
eats  his  crust,  the  swain  is  happier  than  the  monarch 
from  whose  courts  thou  art  exiled."  So  wrote  Laurence 
Sterne. 

And  then  Rufus  Choate:  "To  form  and  uphold  a 
state,  it  is  not  enough  that  our  judgments  should  be 
lieve  it  to  be  useful;  the  better  part  of  our  affections 
should  feel  it  to  be  lovely.  It  is  not  enough  that  our 


OUR    NAVY 


231 


arithmetic  should  compute  its  value  and  find  it  high; 
our  hearts  should  hold  it  priceless — above  all  things 
rich  and  rare — dearer  than  health  and  beauty,  brighter 
than  all  the  order  of  the  stars."  In  contemplating 
those  mysterious  dispensations  of  Providence  by  which 
the  light  which  broke  upon  this  continent  two  hundred 
years  ago  is  now  penetrating  and  illuminating  the  dark 
est  corners  of  the  earth,  it  will  be  a  supreme  satisfac 
tion  for  us  to  know  that  our  children  and  our  chil 
dren's  children  will  have  set  for  their  imitation  and  en 
couragement  the  example  of  the  heroism,  the  manliness, 
the  courage,  the  patriotism  and  the  modesty  of  the  cap 
tains  of  to-day. 


• 


©  Muelhr . 


LATEST  TYPE  OF  DREADNAUGHT 


THE  PATRIOTISM  OF  PEACE 

Address  by  William  Jennings  Bryan  delivered  in  London,  in  the  Royal 
Gallery  of  the  House  of  Lords,  on  July  26,  1906,  at  the  session  of  the 
Interparliamentary  Union  or  Peace  Congress.  It  is  given  here  by  special 
permission  of  Mr.  Bryan  and  his  publishers — Funk  and  Wagnalls  Com 
pany,  New  York  and  London. 

I  regret  that  I  cannot  speak  to  you  in  the  language 
which  is  usually  employed  in  this  body,  but  I  know 
only  one  language,  the  language  of  my  own  country, 
and  you  will  pardon  me  if  I  use  that.  I  desire  in  the 
first  place  to  express  my  appreciation  of  the  courtesy 
shown  me  by  Lord  Weardale,  our  president,  and  by 
Baron  von  Plener,  the  chairman  of  the  committee 
which  framed  the  model  treaty.  The  latter  has  framed 
this  substitute  embodying  both  of  the  ideas  (investi 
gation  and  meditation)  which  were  presented  yester 
day.  I  recognize  the  superior  wisdom  and  the  greater 
experience  of  this  learned  committee  which  has  united 
the  two  propositions,  and  I  thank  this  body  also  for 
the  opportunity  to  say  just  a  word  in  defense  of  my 
part  of  the  resolution.  I  cannot  say  that  it  is  a  new 
idea,  for  since  it  was  presented  yesterday  I  have  learned 
that  the  same  idea  in  substance  was  presented  last  year 
at  Brussels  by  Mr.  Bartholdt,  of  my  own  country,  who 
has  been  so  conspicuous  in  his  efforts  to  promote  peace, 
and  I  am  very  glad  that  I  can  follow  in  his  footsteps 
in  the  urging  of  this  amendment.  I  may  add  also  that 
it  is  in  line  with  the  suggestion  made  by  the  honorable 


232 


THE   PATRIOTISM    OF   PEACE  23S 

prime  minister  of  Great  Britain,  Sir  Henry  Campbell- 
Bannerman,  in  that  memorable  and  epoch-making 
speech  of  yesterday,  in  that  speech  which  contained 
several  sentences  any  one  of  which  would  have  justi 
fied  the  assembling  of  this  Interparliamentary  Union — 
any  one  of  which  would  have  compensated  us  all  for 
coming  here.  In  that  splendid  speech  he  expressed 
the  hope  that  the  scope  of  arbitration  treaties  might 
be  enlarged.  He  said: 

"GENTLEMEN,  I  fervently  trust  that  before  long  the 
principles  of  arbitration  may  win  such  confidence  as  to 
justify  its  extension  to  a  wider  field  of  international 
differences.  We  have  already  seen  how  questions 
arousing  passion  and  excitement  have  attained  a  solu 
tion,  not  necessarily  by  means  of  arbitration  in  the 
strict  sense  of  the  word,  by  referring  them  to  such  a 
tribunal  as  that  which  reported  on  the  North  Sea 
incident;  and  I  would  ask  you  whether,  it  may  not  be 
worth  while  carefully  to  consider,  before  the  next 
Congress  meets  at  The  Hague,  the  various  forms  in 
which  differences  might  be  submitted,  with  a  view  to 
opening  the  door  as  wide  as  possible  to  every  means 
which  might  in  any  degree  contribute  to  moderate  or 
compose  such  differences." 

This  amendment  is  in  harmony  with  this  suggestion. 
The  resolution  is  in  the  form  of  a  postscript  to  the 
treaty,  but  like  the  postscripts  to  some  letters  it  con 
tains  a  very  vital  subject — in  fact,  I  am  not  sure  but 
the  postscript  in  this  case  is  as  important  as  the  letter 


234  AMERICAN   PATRIOTISM 

itself,  for  it  deals  with  those  questions  which  have  de 
fied  arbitration.  Certain  questions  'affecting  the  honor 
or  integrity  of  a  nation  are  generally  thought  to  be 
outside  of  the  jurisdiction  of  a  court  of  arbitration, 
and  these  are  the  questions  which  have  given  trouble. 
Passion  is  not  often  aroused  by  questions  that  do  not 
affect  a  nation's  integrity  or  honor,  but  for  fear  these 
questions  may  arise  arbitration  is  not  always  employed 
where  it  might  be.  The  first  advantage,  then,  of  this 
resolution  is  that  it  secures  an  investigation  of  the  facts, 
and  if  you  can  but  separate  these  facts  from  the  ques 
tion  of  honor,  the  chances  are  100-to-l  that  you  can 
settle  both  the  fact  and  the  question  of  honor  without 
war.  There  is,  therefore,  a  great  advantage  in  an  in 
vestigation  that  brings  out  the  facts,  for  disputed  facts 
between  nations,  as  between  friends,  are  the  cause  of 
most  disagreements. 

The  second  advantage  of  this  investigation  is  that 
it  gives  time  for  calm  consideration.  That  has  already 
been  well  presented  by  the  gentlemen  who  has  pre 
ceded  me,  Baron  von  Plener.  I  need  not  say  to  you 
that  man  excited  is  a  very  different  animal  from  man 
calm,  and  that  questions  ought  to  be  settled,  not  by 
passion,  but  by  deliberation.  If  this  resolution  would 
do  nothing  else  but  give  time  for  reflection  and  delibera 
tion,  there  would  be  sufficient  reason  for  its  adoption. 
If  we  can  but  stay  the  hand  of  war  until  conscience 
can  assert  itself,  war  will  be  made  more  remote.  When 
men  are  mad  they  swagger  around  and  tell  what  they 
can  do;  when  they  are  calm  they  consider  what  they 
ought  to  do. 


THE    PATRIOTISM    OF   PEACE  235 

The  third  advantage  of  this  investigation  is  that  it 
gives  opportunity  to  mobilize  public  opinion  of  the 
compelling  of  a  peaceful  settlement  and  that  is  an 
advantage  not  to  be  overlooked.  Public  opinion  is 
coming  to  be  more  and  more  a  power  in  the  world. 
One  of  the  greatest  statesmen  of  my  country — Thomas 
Jefferson,  and  if  it  would  not  offend  I  would  say  I  be 
lieve  him  to  be  the  greatest  statesman  the  world  has 
produced — said  that  if  he  had  to  choose  between  a 
government  without  newspapers  and  newspapers  with 
out  a  government,  he  would  rather  risk  the  news 
papers  without  a  government.  You  may  call  it  an 
extravagant  statement,  and  yet  it  presents  an  idea,  and 
that  idea  is  that  public  opinion  is  a  controlling  force. 
I  am  glad  that  the  'time  is  coming  when  public  opinion 
is  to  be  more  and  more  powerful;  glad  that  the  time  is 
coming  when  the  moral  sentiment  of  one  nation  will 
influence  the  action  of  other  nations;  glad  that  the 
time  is  coming  when  the  world  will  realize  that  a  war 
between  the  two  nations  affects  others  than  the  nations 
involved;  glad  that  the  time  is  coming  when  the  world 
will  insist  that  nations  settle  their  differences  by  some 
peaceful  means.  If  time  is  given  for  the  marshaling  of 
the  force  of  public  opinion  peace  will  be  promoted. 
This  resolution  is  presented,  therefore,  for  the  reasons 
that  it  gives  an  opportunity  to  investigate  the  facts, 
and  to  separate  them  from  the  question  of  honor,  that  it 
gives  time  for  the  calming  of  passion,  and  that  it  gives 
time  for  the  formation  of  a  controlling  public  senti 
ment. 

I  will  not  disguise  the  fact  that  I  consider  this  reso- 


236  AMERICAN    PATRIOTISM 

lution  a  long  step  in  the  direction  of  peace,  nor  will  I 
disguise  the  fact  that  I  am  here  because  I  want  this 
Interparliamentary  Union  to  take  just  as  long  a  step 
as  possible  in  the  direction  of  universal  peace.  We 
meet  in  a  famous  hall,  and  looking  down  upon  us  from 
these  walls  are  pictures  that  illustrate  not  only  the 
glory  that  is  to  be  won  in  war,  but  the  horrors  that 
follow  war.  There  is  a  picture  of  one  of  the  great 
figures  in  English  history  (pointing  to  the  fresco  by 
Maclise  of  the  death  of  Nelson).  Lord  Nelson  is  repre 
sented  as  dying,  and  around  him  are  the  mangled  forms 
of  others.  I  understand  that  war  brings  out  certain 
virtues.  I  am  aware  that  it  gives  opportunity  for  the 
display  of  great  patriotism;  I  am  aware  that  the  ex 
ample  of  men  who  give  their  lives  for  their  country  is 
inspiring;  but  I  venture  to  say  there  is  as  much  in 
spiration  in  a  noble  life  as  there  is  in  a  heroic  death, 
and  I  trust  that  one  of  the  results  of  this  Interparlia 
mentary  Union  will  be  to  emphasize  the  doctrine  that 
a  life  devoted  to  the  public,  and  ever  flowing,  like  a 
spring,  with  good,  exerts  an  influence  upon  the  human 
race  and  upon  the  destiny  of  the  world  as  great  as  any 
death  in  war.  And  if  you  will  permit  me  to  mention 
one  whose  career  I  watched  with  interest  and  whose 
name  I  revere,  I  will  say  that,  in  my  humble  judg 
ment,  the  sixty -four  years  of  spotless  public  service  of 
William  Ewart  Gladstone  will,  in  years  to  come,  be 
regarded  as  rich  an  ornament  to  the  history  of  this 
nation  as  the  life  of  any  man  who  poured  out  his  blood 
upon  a  battlefield. 

All  movements  in  the  interest  of  peace  have  back 
of  them  the  idea  of  brotherhood.    If  peace  is  to  come 


THE    PATRIOTISM    OF    PEACE  237 

in  this  world,  it  will  come  because  people  more  and 
more  clearly  recognize  the  indissoluble  tie  that  binds 
each  human  being  to  every  other.  If  we  are  to  build 
permanent  peace  it  must  be  on  the  foundation  of  the 
brotherhood  of  men.  A  poet  has  described  how  in  the 
Civil  War  that  divided  our  country  into  two  hostile 
camps  a  generation  ago — in  one  battle  a  soldier  in 
one  line  thrust  his  bayonet  through  a  soldier  in  the 
opposing  line,  and  how,  when  he  stooped  to  draw  it 
out,  he  recognized  in  the  face  of  the  fallen  one  the  face 
of  his  own  brother.  And  then  the  poet  describes  the 
feeling  of  horror  that  overwhelmed  the  survivor  when 
he  realized  that  he  had  taken  the  life  of  one  who  was 
the  child  of  the  same  parents  and  the  companion  of 
his  boyhood.  It  was  a  pathetic  story,  but  is  it  too 
much  to  hope  that  as  years  go  by  we  will  begin  to 
understand  that  the  whole  human  race  is  but  a  larger 
family? 

It  is  not  too  much  to  hope  that  as  years  go  by  human 
sympathy  will  expand  until  this  feeling  of  unity  will 
not  be  confined  to  the  members  of  a  family  or  to  the 
members  of  a  clan  or  of  a  community  or  state,  but 
shall  be  world-wide.  It  is  not  too  much  to  hope  that 
we,  in  this  assembly,  possibly  by  this  resolution,  may 
hasten  the  day  when  we  shall  feel  so  appalled  at  the 
thought  of  the  taking  of  any  human  life  that  we  shall 
strive  to  raise  all  questions  to  a  level  where  the  settle 
ment  will  be  by  reason  and  not  by  force. 


A  PLEA  FOR  UNIVERSAL    PEACE 

The  following  extracts  are  from  an  address  delivered  by  George  W. 
Norris,  United  States  senator  from  Nebraska,  at  Chautauquas  and  on 
lecture  courses  throughout  the  country  for  several  years.  It  is  one  of 
the  most  logical  and  practical  plans  for  universal  peace  ever  proposed. 
It  was  prepared  when  the  civilized  world  was  at  peace  immediately 
following  the  peace  treaty  between  Russia  and  Japan.  David  Starr 
Jordan  declares  that  "military  efficiency"  is  the  principal  cause  of  the 
present  European  war.  A  serious  and  honest  study  of  how  to  preserve 
peace  and  how  to  avoid  war  cannot  help  but  bring  good  results.  This 
is  the  purpose  of  Senator  Norris's  lecture.  For  a  further  study  of  this 
most  important  subject,  the  reader  is  referred  to  Sumner's  great  oration 
on  "The  True  Grandeur  of  Nations,"  to  various  speeches  and  mono 
graphs  by  Andrew  Carnegie,  and  to  numerous  other  publications, 
recently  issued,  regarding  the  patriotism  of  peace. 

The  greatest  disgrace  of  the  present  century  is  that 
war  between  civilized  nations  is  still  a  possibility. 
That  such  a  barbarous  condition  should  exist  in  the 
civilized  world  is  painful  to  every  lover  of  humanity 
and  to  every  believer  in  the  great  brotherhood  of  man. 

Every  civilized  country  of  the  world  requires  its 
subjects  to  submit  their  differences  and  disputes  to 
tribunals  and  courts  that  have  been  organized  under 
the  forms  of  law  for  their  settlement  and  yet  these 
same  nations  violate  the  principle  of  law  which  they 
compel  their  subjects  to  obey.  The  citizen  must  main 
tain  his  rights  and  settle  his  grievances  before  tribunals 
organized  according  to  law,  upon  principles  of  justice 
and  of  right.  Kings  and  rulers  settle  their  disputes 
upon  the  field  of  battle  without  regard  to  right,  with 
out  regard  to  justice,  and  upon  the  erroneous  and  bar- 

£38 


A  PLEA  FOR  UNIVERSAL  PEACE        239 

barous  theory  that  might  makes  right.  It  is  to  be 
regretted  that  the  great  advance  that  has  been  made 
from  barbarism  by  the  different  nations  of  the  world 
by  which  the  disputes  and  controversies  arising  within 
each  nation  are  settled  according  to  forms  of  law  upon 
the  principles  of  justice  and  equality,  has  not  extended 
to  the  settlement  of  disputes  between  the  nations 
themselves.  Why  is  it  that  rulers,  who  are  able  to 
settle  all  controversies  within  the  countries  they  con 
trol  are  not  able  to  settle  controversies  between  those 
countries? 

Humanity  is  broader  than  nationality  and  embraces 
within  its  scope  the  entire  world.  The  measure  of 
human  happiness  will  not  be  full,  the  heights  of  national 
glory  will  not  be  reached  until  we  can  look  over  the 
world  and  in  the  words  of  the  scripture,  truthfully  say 
of  every  citizen  of  every  civilized  nation — "Is  he  not 
after  all,  my  brother?" 

Why  then  should  there  be  war?  I  know  that  it  can 
truthfully  be  claimed  that  this  cruel  and  heartless 
demon  has  settled  many  questions  of  world-wide  im 
portance,  but  it  never  settled  one  on  any  principle  of 
equity,  morality,  or  justice.  In  modern  times  its  de 
cree  has  been  more  often  right  than  wrong,  because 
the  great  spirit  of  public  sentiment  when  once  aroused 
has  not  only  furnished  money  and  men  for  the  right, 
but  it  has  thoroughly  imbued  the  hearts  of  its  soldiers 
with  a  determination  and  a  bravery  that  have  done 
much  to  place  the  victory  where  it  properly  belonged. 
But  what  a  sacrifice  of  human  life  and  treasure.  I  do 
not  want  to  be  understood  as  claiming  that  all  the 


240  AMERICAN   PATRIOTISM 

wars  of  history  were  wrong  or  could  have  been  avoided. 
Some  of  them  were  carried  on  for  liberty,  some  were 
waged  for  mercy  and  some  were  fought  for  humanity. 
The  soldier,  not  only  of  our  own  land,  but  of  other 
countries  as  well,  is  entitled  to  all  the  consideration 
and  all  the  honor  and  glory  that  humanity  can  give  or 
bestow.  I  am  however  proclaiming  against  the  con 
ditions  existing  in  modern  civilized  times  that  make 
war  not  only  sometimes  necessary,  but  at  any  time 
possible. 

But  the  question  recurs  again — what  is  a  practical 
way  to  solve  the  difficulty?  Who  shall  take  the  first 
step?  Who  can  take  the  first  step  with  the  assurance 
that  beneficial  results  will  follow?  What  nation  to-day 
occupies  such  a  unique  position  in  civilization  that  it 
can  step  out  into  the  open  and  say  to  all  the  civilized 
world—  "We  are  willing  to  submit  to  peaceful  arbitra 
tion  every  international  dispute,  every  international 
controversy  not  only  of  the  present  but  of  the  future  as 
well."  What  nation  in  assuming  this  position 
can  command  not  only  the  respect  and  belief  of 
other  nations  in  the  integrity  and  the  honesty  of 
its  purpose,  but  can  also  receive  the  respect  and  ap 
proval  of  humanity's  peace  loving  sentiment,  that 
will  go  far  towards  impelling  the  balance  of  the  civ 
ilized  world  to  accept  the  proffered  hand  of  universal 
brotherhood  ! 

If  we  study  the  history  of  European  nations,  we  will 
find  a  trace  at  least  of  jealousy  between  them  that  has 
come  down  from  the  days  of  barbarism.  In  ancient 
times  the  king,  who  was  then  supposed  to  possess,  and 


A   PLEA   FOR   UNIVERSAL   PEACE  241 

is  still  suspicioned  to  have,  some  attributes  of  Divinity, 
ruled  only  over  such  territory  as  he  was  able  to  hold 
in  subjection.  He  broke  no  law  of  nations  if,  without 
notice,  cause  or  provocation,  he  made  war  upon  his 
neighbor  in  an  attempt  to  conquer  and  subdue  addi 
tional  territory.  He  violated  no  principle  of  govern 
ment  if  in  carrying  out  his  purpose  he  resorted  to  trick 
ery,  chicanery,  and  dishonesty.  The  result  was  that 
every  ruler  was  suspicious  of  every  other  ruler. 

This  suspiciousness  and  lack  of  confidence  anciently 
existing  between  kings,  and  permeating  the  frame 
work  of  every  European  nation,  has,  in  a  lessening 
and  decreasing  degree,  come  down  to  the  present  day. 
It  exists  now — unconsciously  perhaps — but  exists 
nevertheless,  and  must  be  taken  into  consideration 
whenever  any  European  nation  makes  a  proposition 
to  other  European  nations  for  the  settlement  of  any 
great  international  question.  This  condition  was  well 
paraphrased  by  a  great  European  statesman  in  com 
paring  European  conditions  with  those  of  America, 
when  he  referred  to  it  as  American  boldness  and 
European  suspiciousness. 

In  the  new  world  where  our  government's  leadership 
and  controlling  influence  are  recognized  and  acknowl 
edged  by  all  the  world,  these  conditions  do  not  obtain. 
Here  the  divine  right  of  kings  has  never  been  recog 
nized.  We  have  not  only  disclaimed  the  right  of  con 
quest  ourselves,  but  we  have  refused  to  recognize  it  in 
others.  We  have  not  only  refused  to  recognize  this 
right  in  the  strong  nation,  but  we  have  protected  the 
weak  nation  against  it.  Moreover  we  have  shown  to 


242  AMERICAN    PATRIOTISM 

the  world  our  unselfish  devotion  to  that  principle  to 
the  extent  of  sacrificing  life  and  treasure  in  the  defense 
of  the  weak  against  the  strong — the  protection  of  the 
down-trodden  and  oppressed  against  oppression.  Our 
entire  national  life  has  been  emblematic  of  an  unselfish 
respect  for  the  rights  of  other  nations,  and  is  not  tainted 
with  that  suspiciousness  which  has  come  down  to 
others  from  ancient  times.  Our  position  among  the 
nations  of  the  world  was  well  illustrated  by  what 
happened  in  the  war  between  Russia  and  Japan. 

When  these  two  great  nations  had  gotten  each 
other  by  the  throat  and  were  struggling  in  mortal 
combat,  the  entire  world  was  aroused  to  admiration 
by  the  action  of  America's  great  president.  Neither 
one  of  the  warring  nations  had  expressed  any  desire 
for  peace.  Neither  one  had  shown  any  disposition 
to  cease  the  conflict.  Neither  one  had  asked  for  any 
intercession,  and  yet  in  the  midst  of  the  bloody  con 
flict,  when  America's  voice  was  heard,  they  both 
halted,  they  both  ceased,  and  they  both  obeyed. 

It  was  because  they  knew — all  the  world  knew— 
that  in  the  voice  which  called  them  from  the  battle 
field  to  reason's  court  there  was  no  taint  of  selfish 
ness;  that  in  that  call  there  was  no  suspicion  of  an 
ulterior  or  dishonorable  motive,  but  that  in  the  heart 
of  the  great  statesman,  whose  voice  they  heeded, 
there  was  only  the  purity  of  a  humane  effort  to  bring 
about  the  welfare  of  all.  From  the  very  nature 
of  the  development  of  other  nations  from  the  bar 
barism  of  ancient  times  it  is  quite  apparent  that 
no  other  ruler  of  the  civilized  world  could  have  made 


A   PLEA   FOR   UNIVERSAL   PEACE  243 

that  proposition  with  the  same  successful  results. 
In  response  to  the  friendly  intervention  of  the  Amer 
ican  Government,  Russia  and  Japan  appointed  com 
missioners  to  agree  upon  terms  of  peace. 

While  these  commissioners  were  in  session  on  Ameri 
can  soil,  a  notable  assemblage  for  the  advancement 
of  international  arbitration  was  in  session  at  Brussels, 
the  capital  of  Belgium.  At  this  meeting  of  the  Inter 
parliamentary  Union  there  were  representatives  from 
practically  every  civilized  country  in  the  world  except 
Russia  and  Japan.  We  watched  with  hopeful  anxiety 
the  reports  which  the  cable  brought  us  of  the  progress 
that  was  being  made  by  these  peace  commissioners  at 
Portsmouth.  In  that  assemblage,  composed  of  repre 
sentatives  from  two  continents,  there  was  a  unani 
mous  wish,  a  united  hope,  a  fervent  prayer  that  Ameri 
ca's  intervention  would  prove  successful. 

As  a  fitting  close  of  that  great  international  con 
ference  the  representatives  of  Belgium  invited  all 
the  delegates  to  a  reception  held  in  that  historic 
building  where  the  cohorts  of  Napoleon  were  assem 
bled  in  revelry  on  the  eve  of  Waterloo.  The  rooms 
were  decorated  with  the  colors  of  all  nations.  The 
finest  band  of  Belgium  was  playing  her  national  air. 
In  the  midst  of  it  the  music  suddenly  ceased.  All  eyes 
were  turned  to  the  rostrum.  We  saw  the  leader  of  the 
band  seize  from  the  decorations  of  the  hall  the  Amer 
ican  flag,  and  using  it  as  a  baton,  he  waved  it  over 
the  heads  of  the  musicians,  and  in  answer  to  his  action 
there  burst  forth  the  rapturous  strains  of  "  The  Star 
Spangled  Banner." 


244  AMERICAN   PATRIOTISM 

For  a  moment,  and  a  moment  only,  there  was  silence, 
and  then  there  burst  forth  a  roar  of  applause  which 
clearly  indicated  that  everyone  there  understood, 
that  beneath  the  fathomless  deep  the  electric  spark 
had  brought  the  welcome  news  that  on  the  shores 
of  America  an  agreement  for  peace  had  been  signed. 
On  the  occasion  of  nearly  one  hundred  years  before 
the  revelry  was  interrupted  by  the  booming  of  cannon, 
but  on  this  occasion  it  was  the  joyous  message  that 
under  the  leadership  of  America  the  peace  of  the  world 
had  been  established.  That  was  an  occasion,  my 
countrymen,  when  it  was  greater  to  be  an  American 
citizen  than  to  wear  a  crown. 

Heretofore  one  of  the  greatest  obstacles  to  the  peace 
ful  settlement  of  international  difficulties,  and  to  the 
submission  of  such  controversies  to  arbitration,  has 
been  that  the  offense  has  been  committed,  or  the  con 
troversy  has  arisen  before  any  rule  for  its  settlement 
has  been  provided,  or  any  tribunal  for  its  determination 
has  been  selected.  This  ex  post  facto  machinery  for 
the  settlement  of  differences  is  not  only  unreasonable 
and  illogical,  but  it  has  been  guarded  against  by  all 
the  civilized  nations  of  the  earth  in  the  regulation  and 
management  of  their  own  internal  affairs.  When  dis 
agreeing  nations  are  aroused  to  anger  by  the  excite 
ment  and  the  prejudice  of  the  people  on  account  of 
real  or  imaginary  wrong,  it  is  a  poor  time  indeed  to 
attempt  to  agree  upon  a  fair  method  of  settlement, 
or  to  exercise  that  calm  deliberation  which  should  be 
invoked  in  the  selection  of  the  arbitrators. 


A  PLEA  FOR  UNIVERSAL  PEACE         245 

The  treaty  of  arbitration  should  be  general  and  apply 
to  all  disputes.  It  should  be  negotiated  in  time  of  pro 
found  peace,  and  not  with  reference  to  any  particular 
controversy.  Its  judges  should  be  selected  in  time  of 
peace  and  their  terms  of  office  should  be  permanent. 
In  order  that  they  might  be  removed  from,  and  unin 
fluenced  by,  any  bias  or  prejudice  they  should  be  ap 
pointed  for  life,  and  while  holding  this  great  inter 
national  commission  they  should  be  prohibited  from 
accepting  or  holding  any  other  office  or  emolument 
from  a^ny  government. 

The  treaty,  however,  should  specifically  provide  that 
these  international  judges  could  be  appointed  and 
selected  as  members  of  any  other  international  arbi 
tration  tribunal,  and  in  accordance  with  this  provision 
each  government  would  undoubtedly  select  the  same 
men  as  judges  for  each  arbitration  treaty  into  which 
it  entered. 

To  illustrate — if  our  government  entered  into  such  a 
treaty  with  the  German  Empire,  and  afterwards  into 
a  similar  treaty  with  France,  we  would  select  the 
same  arbitrators  under  the  treaty  with  France  that 
we  had  named  in  carrying  out  the  provisions  of  the 
treaty  with  Germany,  and  in  any  subsequent  arbitra 
tion  treaty  with  any  other  nation,  the  same  men  would 
again  be  named  as  our  arbitrators.  There  is  little 
doubt  but  what  all  other  nations  would  pursue  a 
similar  course. 

This  would  give  us  an  international  court  that  would 
command  the  absolute  respect  of  all  mankind  and  the 
confidence  of  all  civilization.  Its  judges  would  be  free 

AMERICA    FIRST  — 1C. 


246  AMERICAN   PATRIOTISM 

from  any  bias,  prejudice  or  excitement  that  might  ex 
ist  in  either  one  or  both  of  the  contending  nations'. 
Instead  of  representing  one  government  as  against 
the  other  they  would  in  fact,  without  partiality  and 
with  equal  justice,  represent  both  of  the  contending 
parties.  Their  life  work  would  be  the  study  of  inter 
national  questions.  They  would  become  learned- 
yea,  experts — in  international  law  and  the  adminis 
tration  of  international  justice.  If  each  nation  selected 
the  same  judges  in  each  of  its  arbitration  treaties,  the 
world  would  have  a  list — a  school — of  international 
jurists  devoting  their  time,  their  energies  and  their 
lives  to  the  study  of  international  questions  and  the 
settlement  of  international  disputes.  In  the  hands 
of  these  men  the  peace  of  the  civilized  world  would 
be  safe  and  secure. 

The  treaty  of  arbitration  would  undoubtedly  pro 
vide  for  an  equal  number  of  arbitrators  from  each  of 
the  contracting  parties.  It  likewise  would,  and  un 
doubtedly  should,  provide  for  the  selection  of  addi 
tional  members  of  the  court  in  cases  where  the  judges 
were  equally  divided  on  any  question  submitted  to 
them.  A  wise  provision  would  be  to  let  the  permanent 
judges  themselves  select  the  additional  arbitrators, 
and  with  this  list  of  great  international  jurists  from 
which  to  make  a  choice,  how  small  the  possibility  of 
error,  and  how  great  would  be  the  probability  of  a  wise 
selection.  As  a  matter  of  fact  it  would  seldom  be  nec 
essary  for  this  provision  of  the  treaty  to  be  acted  on. 
Not  once  in  a  lifetime  would  the  members  of  such  a 
court  be  divided  along  the  lines  of  nationality.  The 


A  PLEA  FOR  UNIVERSAL  PEACE        247 

judges  of  this  court,  occupying  this  dignified,  exalted 
and  unparalleled  position  before  the  world,  would  be 
farther  removed  from  bias  and  prejudice  than  any 
court  that  has  ever  been  instituted  in  the  history  of 
mankind.  Its  decisions  would  become  precedents  for 
future  action.  It  would  not  be  long  until  we  would 
have  a  line  of  decisions,  that  would  eliminate  the  un 
certainty  of  international  law  which  has  existed  in 
the  past.  A  question  once  determined  by  this  great 
court  would  be  accepted  by  the  world  as  the  law  for 
the  future,  and  the  result  would  be  that  we  would 
not  only  have  an  international  tribunal  for  the  peace 
ful  settlement  and  determination  of  all  international 
questions,  but  their  decisions  would  become  the  beacon 
lights  of  peace  for  future  generations,  whose  rays  of 
wisdom  and  of  reason  would  light  up  the  dark  waters 
of  international  jurisprudence,  mark  out  the  course 
of  safety  for  every  ship  of  state,  and  warn  her  mariners 
of  the  shoals  of  disaster. 

There  is  no  ground  whatever  for  the  belief  which 
prevails  somewhat  that  the  members  of  such  a  court 
would  always  follow  the  contention  of  their  own  country. 
Even  under  the  present  cumbersome  and  illogical 
method  of  selecting  arbitrators  we  have  a  recent  illus 
tration  that  men  great  enough  to  fill  positions  of  this 
kind,  realizing  the  dignity  and  responsibility  of  the 
position,  will  rise  above  the  clamor  of  their  own 
countrymen  and  decide  the  question  at  issue  upon  its 
merits.  I  refer  to  the  Alaskan  boundary  dispute  be 
tween  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain.  We  have 
an  illustration  of  this  point  in  our  own  country. 


248  AMERICAN   PATRIOTISM 

Our  national  government  is  composed  of  sovereign 
states.  State  pride  is  an  attribute  of  practically  all 
our  citizens.  Its  influence  has  compelled  men  to  hon 
estly  do  all  kinds  of  unreasonable  things.  For  it  men 
have  given  up  their  property  and  sacrificed  their  lives. 
Yet  this  prejudice  has  never  reached  our  judiciary. 
Every  United  States  judge  is  a  citizen  of  some  state. 
They  try  cases  between  different  states,  pass  on  dis 
putes  existing  between  a  sovereign  state  and  the  cit 
izens  of  another  state,  and  settle  controversies  arising 
between  the  citizens  of  one  state  and  the  citizens  of 
another  state.  Our  judges  have  been  criticized  on 
nearly  all  possible  grounds,  often  no  doubt  without 
reason,  sometimes  perhaps  with  good  cause,  but  in 
the  entire  history  of  our  country,  there  has  never  yet 
been  made  the  charge  that  any  one  of  these  judges  has 
been  influenced  in  his  official  conduct  by  pride  of  his 
native  or  adopted  state.  Man  is  often  unconsciously 
influenced  and  controlled  by  his  associations,  his  habits 
and  the  environments  of  earlier  life.  Their  influence 
has  become  a  part  of  the  man.  But  the  history  of 
jurisprudence  will  show  that  judges  have  seldom,  if 
ever,  been  moved  or  influenced  in  official  action  by  the 
excitement,  the  clamor  or  the  prejudice  of  the  citizen 
ship  if  it  was  beyond  the  power  of  that  citizenship  to 
reward  or  punish. 

It  is  unnecessary  to  provide  any  method  for  the  en 
forcement  of  the  decrees  of  an  international  court.  It 
is  safe  to  trust  to  the  honor  of  the  governments  inter 
ested,  and  to  the  enlightened  public  sentiment  of  the 
civilized  world  for  the  honest  enforcement  in  good 


A  PLEA  FOR  UNIVERSAL  PEACE        249 

faith  of  every  such  judgment  and  decree.  This  has 
been  frequently  demonstrated  in  the  past.  In  all  the 
history  of  the  world  there  has  never  been  an  instance 
where  an  offending  nation  has  failed  to  carry  out  in 
good  faith  the  judgment  of  an  international  court. 

In  America  the  friends  of  international  arbitration 
are  not  united  as  they  should  be.  The  division  comes 
about  principally  on  account  of  a  disagreement  as  to 
what  should  be  the  size  of  our  navy.  There  are  some 
who  believe  that  we  should  make  but  a  small  annual 
increase  in  our  navy,  and  some  of  these  are  inclined  to 
criticize  those  who  advocate  a  large  navy  and  to  claim 
that  such  conduct  is  inconsistent  with  international 
arbitration.  While  I  have  been  one  of  those  who  usu 
ally  have  favored  a  small  yearly  increase  in  our  naval 
vessels,  yet  I  am  frank  to  admit  that  under  present 
conditions,  there  is  much  sound  logic  in  the  argument 
that  the  greatest  and  best  assurance  of  international 
peace,  is  to  be  always  prepared  for  war.  It  is  well  too, 
to  remember  that  an  unbiased  and  unprejudiced  tri 
bunal  in  a  foreign  land  has  recently  given  an  inter 
national  trophy — the  world's  prize — to  the  greatest 
American  exponent  of  a  large  navy,  for  having  during 
the  year  for  which  the  prize  was  given,  accomplished 
more  for  international  peace,  than  any  other  living 
man.  It  is  not  my  intention  to  discuss  this  subject. 
It  is  not  necessary  to  decide  it  for  the  purposes  of  the 
present  discussion.  It  is  of  importance  when  consider 
ing  the  subject  of  national  defense  and  national  finan 
ces,  but  it  has  no  decisive  influence  upon  the  question 
of  international  arbitration.  The  man  who  favors  a 


250  AMERICAN   PATRIOTISM 

small  navy,  and  the  man  who  favors  a  large  one  can 
consistently  work  side  by  side  for  the  advancement 
of  international  peace.  The  size  of  the  navy  that  we 
should  maintain  is  a  question  upon  which  the  minds 
of  wise  and  patriotic  men  may  honestly  differ.  Every 
body  admits  that  we  should  keep  and  maintain  an 
ample  and  sufficient  navy,  and  that  annual  additions 
thereto  are  necessary  to  maintain  its  efficiency.  But, 
the  terms  "adequate  navy,"  "sufficient  navy"  and 
"large  navy"  are  very  indefinite,  and  convey  entirely 
different  ideas  to  different  people.  What  one  man 
might  regard  as  a  small  navy,  another  one  equally  as 
wise  would  regard  as  entirely  too  large.  What  one 
person  would  consider  a  small  and  inadequate  annual 
addition  to  our  navy,  others,  equally  as  patriotic, 
would  regard  as  unreasonable  and  extravagant.  A 
man's  ideas  on  this  disputed  and  unsettled  question 
can  not  consistently  be  urged  against  the  sincerity 
of  his  purpose  when  he  advocates  international  ar 
bitration. 

But  while  the  friends  of  international  arbitration 
may  honestly  disagree  as  to  the  strength  of  the  army 
and  the  size  of  the  navy  that  should  be  maintained 
in  times  of  peace,  there  is  no  disagreement  in  the  con 
demnation  of  the  conditions  which  make  it  necessary 
to  maintain  a  large  army  and  navy.  These  conditions 
are  relics  of  barbarism.  They  are  not  founded  upon 
any  wisdom,  reason,  or  justice.  They  exist  only  be 
cause  the  great  men  of  to-day,  who  hold  the  destinies 
of  nations  in  their  hands  have  not  met  upon  the  broad 
plane  of  equality  and  agreed  upon  their  abolishment. 


A   PLEA   FOR   UNIVERSAL   PEACE  251 

Heretofore  the  cry  of  international  arbitration  has 
come  mainly  from  those  who  were  moved  by  the  idea 
of  philanthropy,  of  mercy  and  of  humanity.  It  will 
not  be  long  until  these  influences  will  be  joined  by  all 
the  commercial  interests  of  civilization  and  all  the  tax 
payers  of  the  world.  For  the  fiscal  year  (1907)  in  our 
own  country  there  was  appropriated  from  the  national 
treasury  nearly  four  hundred  millions  of  dollars  on 
account  of  war.  Over  sixty-five  per  cent,  of  the  rev 
enues  of  our  national  government  are  spent  on  account 
of  our  wars  of  the  past,  or  in  preparation  for  war  in 
the  future.  Every  time  our  government  raises  a  dollar 
by  taxation  more  than  sixty -five  cents  of  it  is  demanded 
as  a  tribute  by  this  blood  thirsty  demon. 

Our  situation  is  only  a  fair  illustration  of  what  exists 
everywhere  in  the  world.  In  round  numbers  about 
one-half  of  the  money  raised  by  taxation  in  the  leading 
civilized  nations  of  the  world  is  spent,  either  in  the 
payment  of  obligations  of  past  wars,  or  in  the  prepara 
tion  for  war  in  the  future.  The  expense  of  this  prepara 
tion  is  increasing  at  a  wonderful  rate.  Our  govern 
ment  expends  about  the  same  amount  of  money  as  the 
other  leading  nations  of  the  world  in  the  preparation 
for  war  in  the  future,  but  for  the  expenses  of  wars  that 
are  past  it  expends  more  than  all  the  other  nations 
combined.  The  expenses  of  our  past  wars,  consisting 
chiefly  and  mainly  of  pensions,  are  just,  and  no  one 
would  cut  them  down,  excepting  as  they  will  be  cur 
tailed  by  the  hand  of  Time  as  he  gathers  into  his  fold 
our  heroes  of  the  past.  We  will  therefore  eliminate 
the  past  from  the  financial  consideration  of  the  ques 
tion.  During  a  single  year  of  peace,  Great  Britain, 


AMERICAN    PATRIOTISM 

Germany,  France,  and  the  United  States  spent  nearly 
one  billion  of  dollars  in  making  preparation  for  war. 
All  the  money  in  the  United  States  would  only  pay 
this  enormous  expense  for  a  little  more  than  two 
years.  The  people  of  these  highly  civilized  countries, 
while  in  profound  peace,  were  taxing  themselves  to 
death,  in  order  that  the  survivors  might  kill  each  other 
according  to  the  most  modern  methods  of  modern 
warfare  with  the  mbst  modern  weapons  of  human 
destruction. 

As  startling  and  astounding  as  these  figures  are, 
they  do  not  tell  one  half  of  the  story.  Human 
life  cannot  be  measured  in  dollars  and  cents;  broken 
hearts  cannot  be  healed  by  the  appropriation  of 
money;  human  suffering  and  misery  cannot  be 
alleviated  by  financial  consideration,  and  humanity 
stands  helpless  in  the  face  of  death  and  destruction. 
At  the  fireside  of  practically  every  home  in  Christen 
dom,  there  is  a  vacant  chair,  made  so  by  war.  For 
every  vacant  chair  there  was  a  ruined  hearthstone; 
for  every  hearthstone  there  was  a  sorrowing  widow; 
and  for  every  widow  there  is  a  fatherless  child.  For 
every  penny  spent  for  war  there  is  a  sigh  of  grief;  for 
every  shilling  there  is  a  tear  of  sorrow;  and  for  every 
dollar  there  is  a  broken  heart.  The  amount  expended 
on  this  account  in  the  civilized  world,  in  one  year 
would  give  shelter  to  every  pauper,  a  home  to  every 
unfortunate,  and  an  education  to  every  child.  At  the 
present  rate  of  increasing  expense  it  will  not  be  long 
until  this  great  chain  will  break  of  its  own  weight;  un 
til  every  nation  will  become  bankrupt  and  every  tax- 


A  PLEA  FOR  UNIVERSAL  PEACE        253 

payer  will  become  a  pauper.  As  this  time  approaches, 
the  forces  of  international  peace  will  become  more 
numerous  and  more  powerful.  Humanity  will  shake 
off  the  shackles  of  barbarism  and  defy  the  God  of  War 
upon  his  throne.  In  this  battle  of  reason,  that  tyrant 
of  oppression,  that  ruler  of  ignorance,  that  demon  of 
superstition,  in  "whose  decree  there  is  no  mercy,  in 
whose  judgment  there  is  no  justice,  will  be  driven  from 
his  throne,  and  relegated  beyond  the  portals  of  a  uni 
versal  peace,  to  be  remembered  only  as  a  horrible 
nightmare  of  an  unholy  and  an  unrighteous  past. 


LINCOLN'S  GETTYSBURG    ADDRESS 

Fourscore  and  seven  years  ago  our  fathers  brought 
forth  upon  this  continent  a  new  nation,  conceived  in 
liberty,  and  dedicated  to  the  proposition  that  all  men 
are  created  equal.  Now  we  are  engaged  in  a  great 
civil  war,  testing  whether  that  nation,  or  any  nation 
so  conceived  and  so  dedicated,  can  long  endure. 

We  are  met  on  a  great  battlefield  of  that  war.  We 
have  come  to  dedicate  a  portion  of  that  field  as  the 
final  resting-place  for  those  who  here  gave  their  lives 
that  that  nation  might  live.  It  is  altogether  fitting 
and  proper  that  we  should  do  this.  But  in  a  larger 
sense  we  cannot  dedicate,  we  cannot  consecrate,  we 
cannot  hallow  this  ground.  The  brave  men,  living 
and  dead,  who  struggled  here  have  consecrated  it  far 
above  our  power  to  add  or  detract.  The  world  will 
little  note,  nor  long  remember,  what  we  say  here;  but 
it  can  never  forget  what  they  did  here. 

It  is  for  us,  the  living,  rather  to  be  dedicated  here  to 
the  unfinished  work  which  they  who  fought  here  have 
thus  far  so  nobly  advanced.  It  is  rather  for  us  to  be 
here  dedicated  to  the  great  task  remaining  before  us, 
that  from  these  honored  dead  we  take  increased  devo 
tion  to  that  cause  for  which  they  here  gave  the  last 
full  measure  of  devotion;  that  we  here  highly  resolve 
that  these  dead  shall  not  have  died  in  vain;  that  this 
nation,  under  God,  shall  have  a  new  birth  of  freedom, 
and  that  government  of  the  people,  by  the  people,  and 
for  the  people,  shall  not  perish  from  the  earth. 


255 


PRESIDENT  WILSON'S  NEUTRALITY 
PROCLAMATION 

This  proclamation  is  in  strict  keeping  with  Washington's  counsel.  It 
is  one  of  the  greatest  of  President  Wilson's  state  papers  and  probably  did 
more  than  any  one  act  of  his  administration  in  keeping  the  United  States 
from  becoming  involved  in  the  European  war. 

MY  FELLOW  COUNTRYMEN: — I  suppose  that  every 
thoughtful  man  in  America  has  asked  himself,  during 
these  last  troubled  weeks,  what  influence  the  European 
war  may  exert  upon  the  United  States,  and  I  take  the 
liberty  of  addressing  a  few  words  to  you  in  order  to 
point  out  that  it  is  entirely  within  our  own  choice  what 
its  effects  upon  us  will  be  and  to  urge  very  earnestly 
upon  you  the  sort  of  speech  and  conduct  which  will 
best  safeguard  the  Nation  against  distress  and  disaster. 

The  effect  of  the  war  upon  the  United  States  will  de 
pend  upon  what  American  citizens  say  and  do.  Every 
man  who  really  loves  America  will  act  and  speak  in  the 
true  spirit  of  neutrality,  which  is  the  spirit  of  imparti 
ality  and  fairness  and  friendliness  to  all  concerned. 
The  spirit  of  the  Nation  in  this  critical  matter  will  be 
determined  largely  by  what  individuals  and  society 
and  those  gathered  in  public  meetings  do  and  say,  upon 
what  newspapers  and  magazines  contain,  upon  what 
ministers  utter  in  their  pulpits,  and  men  proclaim  as 
their  opinions  on  the  street. 

The  people  of  the  United  States  are  drawn  from 
many  nations,  and  chiefly  from  the  nations  now  at 
war.  It  is  natural  and  inevitable  that  there  should  be 

2/iG 


NEUTRALITY   PROCLAMATION  257 

the  utmost  variety  of  sympathy  and  desire  among 
them  with  regard  to  the  issues  and  circumstances  of 
the  conflict.  Some  will  wish  one  nation,  others  another, 
to  succeed  in  the  momentous  struggle.  It  will  be  easy 
to  excite  passion  and  difficult  to  allay  it.  Those  re 
sponsible  for  exciting  it  will  assume  a  heavy  responsi 
bility,  responsibility  for  no  less  a  thing  than  that  the 
people  of  the  United  States,  whose  love  of  their  coun 
try  and  whose  loyalty  to  its  government  should  unite 
them  as  Americans  all,  bound  in  honor  and  affection 
to  think  first  of  her  and  her  interests,  may  be  divided 
in  camps  of  hostile  opinion,  hot  against  each  other,  in 
volved  in  the  war  itself  in  impulse  and  opinion  if  not 
in  action. 

Such  divisions  among  us  would  be  fatal  to  our  peace 
of  mind  and  might  seriously  stand  in  the  way  of  the 
proper  performance  of  our  duty  as  the  one  great  nation 
at  peace,  the  one  people  holding  itself  ready  to  play  a 
part  of  impartial  mediation  and  speak  the  counsels  of 
peace  and  accommodation,  not  as  a  partisan,  but  as  a 
friend. 

I  venture,  therefore,  my  fellow  countrymen,  to 
speak  a  solemn  word  of  warning  to  you  against  that 
deepest,  most  subtle,  most  essential  breach  of  neu 
trality  which  may  spring  out  of  partisanship,  out  of 
passionately  taking  sides.  The  United  States  must 
be  neutral  in  fact  as  well  as  in  name  during  these  days 
that  are  to  try  men's  souls.  We  must  be  impartial  in 
thought  as  well  as  in  action,  must  put  a  curb  upon  our 
sentiments  as  well  as  upon  every  transaction  that 
might  be  construed  as  a  preference  of  one  party  to 


258  AMERICAN   PATRIOTISM 

the  struggle  before  another. 

My  thought  is  of  America.  I  am  speaking,  I  feel 
sure,  the  earnest  wish  and  purpose  of  every  thoughtful 
American  that  this  great  country  of  ours,  which  is,  of 
course,  the  first  in  our  thoughts  and  in  our  hearts, 
should  show  herself  in  this  time  of  peculiar  trial  »a 
Nation  fit  beyond  others  to  exhibit  the  fine  poise  of 
undisturbed  judgment,  the  dignity  of  self-control,  the 
efficiency  of  dispassionate  action;  a  Nation  that 
neither  sits  in  judgment  upon  others  nor  is  disturbed 
in  her  own  counsels  and  which  keeps  herself  fit  and 
free  to  do  what  is  honest  arid  disinterested  and  truly 
serviceable  for  the  peace  of  the  world. 

Shall  we  not  resolve  to  put, upon  ourselves  the  re 
straints  which  will  bring  to  our  people  the  happiness 
and  the  great  and  lasting  influence  for  peace  we  covet 
for  them? 

August  18,  1914, 


POETRY  OF  PATRIOTISM 


(259) 


(260) 


THF  STATUE  OF  LIBERTY 
New  York  Harbor 


CONCORD   HYMN1 

By  the  rude  bridge  that  arched  the  flood, 
Their  flag  to  April's  breeze  unfurled, 

Here  once  the  embattled  farmers  stood, 
And  fired  the  shot  heard  round  the  world. 

The  foe  long  since  in  silence  slept; 

Alike  the  conqueror  silent  sleeps; 
And  Time  the  ruined  bridge  has  swept 

Down  the  dark  stream  which  seaward  creeps. 

On  this  green  bank,  by  this  soft  stream, 

We  set  to-day  a  votive  stone; 
That  memory  may  their  dead  redeem, 

When,  like  our  sires,  our  sons  are  gone. 

Spirit,  that  made  those  heroes  dare 
To  die,  and  leave  their  children  free, 

Bid  Time  and  Nature  gently  spare 
The  shaft  we  raise  to  them  and  thee. 

1  By  Ralph  Waldo  Emerson,  at  the  dedication,  April  19,  1836,  of  the 
monument  erected  at  Concord  in  honor  of  the  patriots  who  fell  in  the 
battle  of  Lexington  sixty-one  years  before. 

AMERICA  FIRST 17. 


262  POETRY    OF   PATRIOTISM 


WARREN'S  ADDRESS 

Stand!  the  ground's  your  own,  my  braves! 
Will  ye  give  it  up  to  slaves? 
Will  ye  look  for  greener  graves? 

Hope  ye  mercy  still? 
What's  the  mercy  despots  feel? 
Hear  it  in  that  battle  peal ! 
Head  it  on  yon  bristling  steel! 

Ask  it — ye  who  will. 

Fear  ye  foes  who  kill  for  hire? 
Will  ye  to  your  homes  retire? 
Look  behind  you! — they're  afire! 

And,  before  you,  see 
Who  have  done  it !    From  the  vale 
On  they  come! — and  will  ye  quail? 
Leaden  rain  and  iron  hail 
Let  their  welcome  be! 

In  the  God  of  battles  trust! 
Die  we  may — and  die  we  must; 
But,  oh,  where  can  dust  to  dust 

Be  consigned  so  well, 
As  where  heaven  its  dews  shall  shed 
On  the  martyred  patriot's  bed, 
And  the  rocks  shall  raise  their  head, 

Of  his  deeds  to  tell? 

JoLu  Pierpont 


PATRIOTISM  263 

PATRIOTISM 

Breathes  there  the  man,  with  soul  so  dead, 
Who  never  to  himself  hath  said, 

This  is  my  own,  my  native  land ! 
Whose  heart  hath  ne'er  within  him  burned, 
As  home  his  footsteps  he  hath  turned 

From  wandering  on  a  foreign  strand ! 
If  such  there  breathe,  go,  mark  him  well; 
For  him  no  minstrel  raptures  swell; 
High  though  his  titles,  proud  his  name, 
Boundless  his  wealth  as  wish  can  claim; 
Despite  those  titles,  power,  and  pelf, 
The  wretch,  concentered  all  in  self, 
Living,  shall  forfeit  fair  renown, 
And,  doubly  dying,  shall  go  down 
To  the  vile  dust,  from  whence  he  sprung, 
Unwept,  unhonored,  and  unsung. 

Sir  Walter  Scott 

THE  STAR-SPANGLED  BANNER 

Oh,  say,  can  you  see,  by  the  dawn's  early  light, 
What   so   proudly    we   hailed   at   the   twilight's    last 

gleaming, 
Whose  broad  stripes  and  bright  stars,  through  the 

perilous  fight, 
O'er    the    ramparts    we    watched    were    so   gallantly 

streaming? 

And  the  rocket's  red  glare,  the  bombs  bursting  in  air, 
Gave  proof  through  the  night  that  our  flag  was  still 

there : 


POETRY    OF   PATRIOTISM 

Oh,  say,  does  that  Star-Spangled  Banner  yet  wave 
O'er  the  land  of  the  free  and  the  home  of  the  brave  ? 

On  that  shore  dimly  seen  through  the  mists  of  the 

deep, 

Where  the  foe's  haughty  host  in  dread  silence  reposes, 
What  is  that  which  the  breeze,  o'er  the  towering  steep, 
As  it  fitfully  blows,  now  conceals,  now  discloses  ! 
Now  it  catches  the  gleam  of  the  morning's  first  beam, 
In  full  glory  reflected  now  shines  on  the  stream: 
'Tis  the  Star-Spangled  Banner      Oh,  long  may  it  wave 
O'er  the  land  of  the  free  and  the  home  of  the  brave. 

And  where  is  that  band  who  so  vauntingly  swore 
That  the  havoc  of  war  and  the  battle's  confusion 
A  home  and  a  country  should  leave  us  no  more ! 
Their  blood  has  washed  out  their  foul  footsteps'  pol 
lution; 

No  refuge  should  save  the  hireling  and  slave 
From  the  terror  of  flight  or  the  gloom  of  the  grave: 
And  the  Star-Spangled  Banner  in  triumph  doth  wave 
O'er  the  land  of  the  free  and  the  home  of  the  brave. 

Oh,  thus  be  it  ever  when  freemen  shall  stand 
Between  their  loved  homes  and  war's  desolation. 
Blest  with  victory  and  peace,  may  the  Heaven-rescued 

land 
Praise  the  power  that  hath  made  and  preserved  us  a 

nation. 

Then  conquer  we  must,  when  our  cause  it  is  just, 
And  this  be  our  motto,  "In  God  is  our  trust": 


MY    COUNTRY  265 

And  the  Star-Spangled  Banner  in  triumph  shall  wave 
O'er  the  land  of  the  free  and  the  home  of  the  brave. 

Francis  Scott  Key 

MY  COUNTRY 

My  country,  'tis  of  thee, 
Sweet  land  of  liberty, 

Of  thee  I  sing. 

Land  where  my  fathers  died, 
Land  of  the  pilgrims'  pride, 
From  every  mountain  side 

Let  freedom  ring ! 

My  native  country  !     Thee— 
Land  of  the  noble  free,— 

Thy  name  I  love; 
I  love  thy  rocks  and  rills, 
Thy  woods  and  templed  hills; 
My  heart  with  rapture  thrills 

Like  that  above. 

Let  music  swell  the  breeze, 
And  ring  from  all  the  trees 

Sweet  freedom's  song. 
Let  mortal  tongues  awake; 
Let  all  that  breathe  partake; 
Let  rocks  their  silence  break, — 

The  sound  prolong. 

Our  fathers'  God,  to  Thee, 
Author  of  liberty, 

To  Thee  we  sing; 


266  POETRY   OF   PATRIOTISM 

Long  may  our  land  be  bright 
With  freedom's  holy  light; 
Protect  us  by  Thy  might, 
Great  God,  our  King ! 

Samuel  P.  Smith 


THE  AMERICAN  FLAG 

When  Freedom,  from  her  mountain  height, 

Unfurled  her  standard  to  the  air, 
She  tore  the  azure  robe  of  night, 

And  set  the  stars  of  glory  there. 
She  mingled  with  its  gorgeous  dyes 
The  milky  baldric  of  the  skies, 
And  striped  its  pure  celestial  white 
With  streakings  of  the  morning  light. 

Then,  from  his  mansion  in  the  sun, 
She  called  her  eagle  bearer  down, 
And  gave  into  his  mighty  hand 
The  symbol  of  her  chosen  land. 
Flag  of  the  free  heart's  hope  and  home, 

By  angel  hands  to  valor  given  ! 
Thy  stars  have  lit  the  welkin  dome, 

And  all  thy  hues  were  born  in  heaven. 

Forever  float  that  standard  sheet ! 

Where  breathes  the  foe  but  falls  before  us, 
With  Freedom's  soil  beneath  our  feet, 

And  Freedom's  banner  streaming  o'er  us ! 

Joseph  Rodman  Drake 


SONG  OF  MARION'S  MEN  267 


SONG  OF  MARION'S  MEN 

Our  band  is  few  but  true  and  tried, 

Our  leader  frank  and  bold; 
The  British  soldier  trembles 

When  Marion's  name  is  told. 
Our  fortress  is  the  good  greenwood, 

Our  tent  the  cypress  tree; 
We  know  the  forest  round  us, 

As  seamen  know  the  sea. 
We  know  its  walls  of  thorny  vines, 

Its  glades  of  reedy  grass, 
Its  safe  and  silent  islands 

Within  the  dark  morass. 

Woe  to  the  English  soldiery 

That  little  dread  us  near! 
On  them  shall  light  at  midnight 

A  strange  and  sudden  fear 
When,  waking  to  their  tents  on  fire, 

They  grasp  their  arms  in  vain, 
And  they  who  stand  to  face  us 

Are  beat  to  earth  again; 
And  they  who  fly  in  terror  deem 

A  mighty  host  behind, 
And  hear  the  tramp  of  thousands 

Upon  the  hollow  wind. 

Then  sweet  the  hour  that  brings  release 
From  danger  and  from  toil: 


268  POETRY    OF    PATRIOTISM 

We  talk  the  battle  over, 

And  share  the  battle's  spoil. 
The  woodland  rings  with  laugh  and  shout, 

As  if  a  hunt  were  up, 
And  woodland  flowers  are  gathered 

To  crown  the  soldier's  cup. 
With  merry  songs  we  mock  the  wind 

That  in  the  pine-top  grieves, 
And  slumber  long  and  sweetly 

On  beds  of  oaken  leaves. 

Well  knows  the  fair  and  friendly  moon 

The  band  that  Marion  leads — 
The  glitter  of  their  rifles, 

The  scampering  of  their  steeds. 
'Tis  life  to  guide  the  fiery  barb 

Across  the  moonlight  plain; 
'Tis  life  to  feel  the  night  wind 

That  lifts  his  tossing  mane. 
A  moment  in  the  British  camp — 

A  moment — and  away, 
Back  to  the  pathless  forest, 

Before  the  peep  of  day. 

Grave  men  there  are  by  broad  Santee, 

Grave  men  with  hoary  hairs; 
Their  hearts  are  all  with  Marion, 

For  Marion  are  their  prayers. 
And  lovely  ladies  greet  our  band, 

With  kindliest  welcoming, 
With  smiles  like  those  of  summer, 

And  tears  like  those  of  spring. 


THE    OLD    CONTINENTALS 

For  them  we  wear  these  trusty  arms, 

And  lay  them  down  no  more 
Till  we  have  driven  the  Briton, 

Forever  from  our  shore. 

William  Cullen  Bryant 


THE   OLD   CONTINENTALS 

In  their  ragged  regimentals 
Stood  the  old  Continentals, 

Yielding  not, 

When  the  grenadiers  were  lunging, 
And  like  hail  fell  the  plunging 
Cannon  shot; 
When  the  files 
Of  the  isles, 

From  the  smoky  night  encampment,  bore  the  banner 
of  the  rampant 

Unicorn; 

And  grummer,  grummer,  grummer,  rolled  the  roll  of 
the  drummer 

Through  the  morn! 

Then  with  eyes  to  the  front  all, 
And  with  guns  horizontal, 

Stood  our  sires; 
And  the  balls  whistled  deadly, 
And  in  streams  flashing  redly, 

Blazed  the  fires: 

As  the  roar 

On  the  shore 


270  POETRY   OF   PATRIOTISM 

Swept    the    strong    battle  breakers    o'er    the    green- 
sodded  acres 

Of  the  plain; 

And  louder,  louder,  louder,  cracked  the  black  gun 
powder, 

Cracking  amain! 

Now  like  smiths  at  their  forges 
Worked  the  red  St.  George's 

Cannoneers, 

And  the  villainous  saltpetre 
Rung  a  fierce,  discordant  meter 
Round  their  ears; 
As  the  swift 
Storm  drift, 

With   hot   sweeping    anger,    came    the    horseguards' 
clangor 

On  our  flanks; 

Then  higher,  higher,  higher,  burned  the  old-fashioned 
fire 

Through  the  ranks! 

Then  the  bareheaded  colonel 
Galloped  through  the  white  infernal 

Powder  cloud; 

And  his  broadsword  was  swinging, 
And  his  brazen  throat  was  ringing 

Trumpet-loud; 

Then  the  blue 

Bullets  flew, 

And  the  trooper  jackets  redden  at  the  touch  of  the 
leaden 


THE   SWORD    OF   BUNKER   HILL  271 

Rifle  breath; 

And  rounder,  rounder,  rounder,  roared  the  iron  six- 
pounder, 

Hurling  death! 

Guy  Humphreys  McMaster 


THE  SWORD  OF  BUNKER  HILL 

He  lay  upon  his  dying  bed; 

His  eye  was  growing  dim, 
When  with  a  feeble  voice  he  called 

His  weeping  son  to  him : 
'Weep  not,  my  boy!"  the  vet'ran  said, 

"I  bow  to  Heaven's  high  will- 
But  quickly  from  yon  antlers  bring 

The  sword  of  Bunker  Hill." 

The  sword  was  brought,  the  soldier's  eye 

Lit  with  a  sudden  flame; 
And  as  he  grasped  the  ancient  blade, 

He  murmured  Warren's  name; 
Then  said,  "My  boy,  I  leave  you  gold — 

But  what  is  richer  still, 
I  leave  you,  mark  me,  mark  me  now — 

The  sword  of  Bunker  Hill. 

'T  was  on  that  dread,  immortal  day, 

I  dared  the  Briton's  band, 
A  captain  raised  this  blade  on  me — 
I  tore  it  from  his  hand: 


POETRY   OF   PATRIOTISM 

And  while  the  glorious  battle  raged, 

It  lightened  freedom's  will— 
For,  boy,  the  God  of  freedom  blessed 

The  sword  of  Bunker  Hill. 

"Oh,  keep  the  sword!" — his  accents  broke— 
A  smile — and  he  was  dead— 

But  his  wrinkled  hand  still  grasped  the  blade 
Upon  that  dying  bed. 

The  son  remains;   the  sword  remains- 
Its  glory  growing  still— 

And  twenty  millions  bless  the  sire, 
And  sword  of  Bunker  Hill. 

William  Ross  Wallace 


LIBERTY    TREE1 

In  a  chariot  of  light  from  the  regions  of  day, 

The  Goddess  of  Liberty  came; 
Ten  thousand  celestials  directed  the  way, 

.     And  hither  conducted  the  dame. 
A  fair  budding  branch  from  the  gardens  above, 

Where  millions  with  millions  agree, 
She  brought  in  her  hand  as  a  pledge  of  her  love, 

And  the  plant  she  named  Liberty  Tree. 
The  celestial  exotic  struck  deep  in  the  ground, 

Like  a  native  it  flourished  and  bore; 
The  fame  of  its  fruit  drew  the  nation's  around, 

To  seek  out  this  peaceable  shore. 

1  Published  in  the  Pennsylvania  Magazine,  1775. 


LIBERTY   TREE  273 

Unmindful  of  names  or  distinctions  they  came, 

For  freemen  like  brothers  agree; 
With  one  spirit  endued,  they  one  friendship  pursued, 

And  their  temple  was  Liberty  Tree. 

Beneath  this  fair  tree,  like  the  patriarchs  of  old, 

Their  bread  in  contentment  they  ate 
Unvexed  with  the  troubles  of  silver  and  gold, 

The  cares  of  the  grand  and  the  great. 
With  timber  and  tar  they  Old  England  supplied, 

And  supported  her  power  on  the  sea; 
Her  battles  they  fought,  without  getting  a  groat, 

For  the  honor  of  Liberty  Tree. 

But  hear,  O  ye  swains,  'tis  a  tale  most  profane, 

How  all  the  tyrannical  powers, 
Kings,  Commons  and  Lords,  are  uniting  amain, 

To  cut  down  this  guardian  of  ours; 
From  the  east  to  the  west  blow  the  trumpet  to  arms, 

Through  the  land  let  the  sound  of  it  flee, 
Let  the  far  and  the  near,  all  unite  with  a  cheer, 

In  defense  of  our  Liberty  Tree. 

Thomas  Paine 


THE   RISING   IN   1776.1 

Out  of  the  North  the  wild  news  came, 
Far  flashing  on  its  wings  of  flame, 
Swift  as  the  boreal  light  which  flies 
At  midnight  through  the  startled  skies. 
And  there  was  tumult  in  the  air, 

The  fife's  shrill  note,  the  drum's  loud  beat, 
And  through  the  wide  land  everywhere 

The  answering  tread  of  hurrying  feet; 
While  the  first  oath  of  Freedom's  gun, 
Came  on  the  blast  from  Lexington; 
And  Concord,  roused,  no  longer  tame, 
Forgot  her  old  baptismal  name, 
Made  bare  her  patriot  arm  of  power, 
And  swelled  the  discord  of  the  hour. 

1  Used  with  the  courteous  permission  of  the  publishers.  The  J.  P,  Lippin- 
cott  Co.,  Philadelphia. 

274 


THE   RISING   IN    1776  275 

Within  its  shade  of  elm  and  oak 

The  church  of  Berkeley  Manor  stood; 

There  Sunday  found  the  rural  folk, 

And  some  esteemed  of  gentle  blood. 

In  vain  their  feet  with  loitering  tread 

Passed  'mid  the  graves  where  rank  is  naught; 
All  could  not  read  the  lesson  taught 

In  that  republic  of  the  dead. 

How  sweet  the  hour  of  Sabbath  talk, 

The  vale  with  peace  and  sunshine  full 

Where  all  the  happy  people  walk, 

Decked  in  their  homespun  flax  and  wool ! 

Where  youth's  gay  hats  with  blossoms  bloom; 
And  every  maid  with  simple  art, 
Wears  on  her  breast,  like  her  own  heart, 

A  bud  whose  depths  are  all  perfume; 

While  every  garment's  gentle  stir 

Is  breathing  rose  and  lavender. 

The  pastor  came;   his  snowy  locks 

Hallowed  his  brow  of  thought  and  care; 
And  calmly,  as  shepherds  lead  their  flocks, 

He  led  into  the  house  of  prayer. 
The  pastor  rose;   the  prayer  was  strong; 
The  psalm  was  warrior  David's  song; 
The  text,  a  few  short  words  of  might— 
"The  Lord  of  hosts  shall  arm  the  right!" 

He  spoke  of  wrongs  too  long  endured, 
Of  sacred  rights  to  be  secured; 
Then  from  his  patriot  tongue  of  flame 
The  startling  words  for  Freedom  came. 


276  POETRY    OF    PATRIOTISM 

The  stirring  sentences  he  spake 
Compelled  the  heart  to  glow  or  quake, 
And,  rising  on  his  theme's  broad  wing, 

And  grasping  in  his  nervous  hand 

The  imaginary  battle  brand, 
In  face  of  death  he  dared  to  fling 
Defiance  to  a  tyrant  king. 

Even  as  he  spoke,  his  frame,  renewed 
In  eloquence  of  attitude, 
Rose,  as  it  seemed,  a  shoulder  higher; 
Then  swept  his  kindling  glance  of  fire 
From  startled  pew  to  breathless  choir; 
When  suddenly  his  mantle  wide 
His  hands  impatient  flung  aside, 
And,  lo!   he  met  their  wondering  eyes 
Complete  in  all  a  warrior's  guise. 

A  moment  there  was  awful  pause — 

When  Berkeley  cried,  "Cease,  traitor!   cease! 

God's  temple  i?  the  house  of  peace!" 
The  other  shouted,  "Nay,  not  so, 
When  God  is  with  our  righteous  cause; 

His  holiest  places  then  are  ours, 

1 1  is  temples  are  our  forts  and  towers, 
That  frown  upon  the  tyrant  foe; 
In  this,  the  dawn  of  Freedom's  day, 
There  is  a  time  to  fight  and  pray!" 

And  now  before  the  open  door — 

The  warrior  priest  had  ordered  so — 
The  enlisting  trumpet's  sudden  roar 


THE   RISING   IN    1776  £77 

Rang  through  the  chapel,  o'er  and  o'er, 

Its  long  reverberating  blow, 
So  loud  and  clear,  it  seemed  the  ear 
Of  dusty  death  must  wake  and  hear. 
And  there  the  startling  drum  and  fife 
Fired  the  living  with  fiercer  life ; 
While  overhead,  with  wild  increase, 
Forgetting  its  ancient  toll  of  peace, 

The  great  bell  swung  as  ne'er  before ; 
It  seemed  as  it  would  never  cease ; 
And  every  word  its  ardor  flung 
From  off  its  jubilant  iron  tongue 

Was,  "War!  War!  War!" 

"  Who  dares  ?  " — this  was  the  patriot's  cry, 

As  striding  from  the  desk  he  came— 
"  Come  out  with  me,  in  Freedom's  name, 
For  her  to  live,  for  her  to  die  ?  " 
A  hundred  hands  flung  up  reply, 
A  hundred  voices  answered,  " I! " 

Thomas  Buchanan  Read 


AMERICA   FIRST— 18. 


278  POETRY    OF    PATRIOTISM 

AMERICA1 

Foreseen  in  the  vision  of  sages, 

Foretold  when  martyrs  bled, 
She  was  born  of  the  longing  of  ages, 

By  the  truth  of  the  noble  dead 

And  the  faith  of  the  living  fed! 
No  blood  in  her  lightest  veins 
Frets  at  remembered  chains, 

Nor  shame  of  bondage  has  bowed  her  head. 
In  her  form  and  features  still 
The  unblenching  Puritan  will, 
Cavalier  honor,  Huguenot  grace, 
The  Quaker  truth  and  sweetness, 
And  the  strength  of  the  danger-girdled  race 
Of  Holland,  blend  in  a  proud  completeness. 

From  the  homes  of  all,  where  her  being  began, 
She  took  what  she  gave  to  Man; 
Justice,  that  knew  no  station, 
Belief,  as  soul  decreed, 
Free  air  for  aspiration, 
Free  force  for  independent  deed! 
She  takes,  but  to  give  again, 
As  the  sea  returns  the  rivers  in  rain; 
And  gathers  the  chosen  of  her  seed 
From  the  hunted  of  every  crown  and  creed. 

Her  Germany  dwells  by  a  gentler  Rhine; 
Her  Ireland  sees  the  old  sunburst  shine; 
Her  France  pursues  some  dream  divine; 

1  From  the  National  Ode,  July  4,  1876. 


THE  BLUE  AND  THE  GRAY  279 

Her  Norway  keeps  his  mountain  pine; 
Her  Italy  waits  by  the  western  brine; 

And,  broad-based  under  all, 
Is  planted  England's  oaken-hearted  mood, 
As  rich  in  fortitude 
As  e'er  went  worldward  from  the  island- wall! 

Fused  in  her  candid  light, 
To  one  strong  race  all  races  here  unite; 
Tongues  melt  in  hers,  hereditary  foemen 
Forget  their  sword  and  slogan,  kith  and  clan. 

'Twas  glory,  once  to  be  a  Roman: 
She  makes  it  glory,  now,  to  be  a  man ! 

Bayard  Taylor 

THE  BLUE  AND  THE  GRAY 

By  the  flow  of  the  inland  river, 

Whence  the  fleets  of  iron  have  fled, 
Where  the  blades  of  the  grave  grass  quiver, 
Asleep  are  the  ranks  of  the  dead: 
Under  the  sod  and  the  dew, 

Waiting  the  judgment  day; 
Under  the  one,  the  Blue, 

Under  the  other,  the  Gray. 
These  in  the  robings  of  glory, 

Those  in  the  gloom  of  defeat, 
All  with  the  battle  blood  gory, 
In  the  dusk  of  eternity  meet: 
Under  the  sod  and  the  dew, 

Waiting  the  judgment  day; 
Under  the  laurel,  the  Blue, 

Under  the  willow,  the  Gray. 


280  POETRY    OF   PATRIOTISM 

From  the  silence  of  sorrowful  hours 

The  desolate  mourners  go, 
Lovingly  laden  with  flowers 

Alike  for  the  friend  and  the  foe: 
Under  the  sod  and  the  dew, 

Waiting  the  judgment  day; 
Under  the  roses,  the  Blue, 

Under  the  lilies,  the  Gray. 

So  with  an  equal  splendor 

The  morning  sun  rays  fall, 
With  a  touch  impartially  tender, 

On  the  blossoms  blooming  for  all: 
Under  the  sod  and  the  dew, 

Waiting  the  judgment  day; 
Broidered  with  gold,  the  Blue, 

Mellowed  with  gold,  the  Gray, 

So,  when  the  summer  calleth, 

On  forest  and  field  of  grain, 
With  an  equal  murmur  falleth 
The  cooling  drip  of  the  rain: 
Under  the  sod  and  the  dew, 

Waiting  the  judgment  day; 
Wet  with  the  rain,  the  Blue, 

Wet  with  the  rain,  the  Gray. 

Sadly,  but  not  with  upbraiding, 
The  generous  deed  was  done, 

In  the  storm  of  the  years  that  are  fading, 
No  braver  battle  was  won  • 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN  281 

Under  the  sod  and  the  dew, 

Waiting  the  judgment  day; 

Under  the  blossoms,  the  Blue, 

Under  the  garlands,  the  Gray. 

No  more  shall  the  war  cry  sever, 
Or  the  winding  rivers  be  red; 
They  banish  our  anger  forever 

When  they  laurel  the  graves  of  our  dead ! 
Under  the  sod  and  the  dew, 

Waiting  the  judgment  day; 
Love  and  tears  for  the  Blue, 

Tears  and  love  for  the  Gray. 

Francis  Miles  Finch 

ABRAHAM  LINCOLN1 

Life  may  be  given  in  many  ways, 

And  loyalty  to  Truth  be  sealed 
As  bravely  in  the  closet  as  the  field, 

So  bountiful  is  Fate; 

But  then  to  stand  beside  her, 

When  craven  churls  deride  her, 
To  front  a  lie  in  arms  and  not  to  yield, 

This  shows,  methinks,  God's  plan 

And  measure  of  a  stalwart  man, 

Limbed  like  the  old  heroic  breeds, 

Who  stand  self -poised  on  manhood's  solid  earth, 

Not  forced  to  frame  excuses  for  his  birth, 
Fed  from  within  with  all  the  strength  he  needs. 

1  From  the  Ode  recited  at  the  Harvard  Commemoration,  July  21,  1865. 


POETRY    OF    PATRIOTISM 

Such  was  he,  our  martyr  chief, 

Whom  late  the  Nation  he  had  led, 

With  ashes  on  her  head, 
Wept  with  the  passion  of  an  angry  grief: 

Forgive  me,  if  from  present  things  I  turn 

To  speak  what  in  my  heart  will  beat  and  burn, 

And  hang  my  wreath  on  his  world-honored  urn, 

Nature,  they  say,  doth  dote, 

And  cannot  make  a  man 

Save  on  some  worn-out  plan, 

Repeating  us  by  rote: 

For  him  her  Old- World  molds  aside  she  threw, 
And,  choosing  sweet  clay  from  the  breast 

Of  the  unexhausted  West, 
With  stuff  untainted  shaped  a  hero  new, 
Wise,  steadfast  in  the  strength  of  God,  and  true. 

How  beautiful  to  see 

Once  more  a  shepherd  of  mankind  indeed, 
Who  loved  his  charge,  but  never  loved  to  lead; 
One  whose  meek  flock  the  people  joyed  to  be, 

Not  lured  by  any  cheat  of  birth, 
But  by  his  clear-grained  human  worth, 
And  brave  old  wisdom  of  sincerity ! 

They  knew  that  outward  grace  is  dust; 
They  could  not  choose  but  trust 
In  that  sure-footed  mind's  unfaltering  skill, 

And  supple-tempered  will 

That  bent  like  perfect  steel  to  spring  again  and  thrust. 
His  was  no  lonely  mountain  peak  of  mind, 
Thrusting  to  thin  air  o'er  our  cloudy  bars, 
A  sea  mark  now,  now  lost  in  vapor's  blind; 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN  283 

Broad  prairie  rather,  genial,  level-lined, 

Fruitful  and  friendly  for  all  human  kind, 

Yet  also  nigh  to  Heaven  and  loved  of  loftiest  stars. 

Nothing  of  Europe  here, 
Or,  then,  of  Europe  fronting  mornward  still, 
Ere  any  names  of  serf  and  peer 
Could  Nature's  equal  scheme  deface 
And  thwart  her  genial  will; 
Here  was  a  type  of  the  true  elder  race, 
And  one  of  Plutarch's  men  talked  with  us  face  to  face. 

I  praise  him  not;  it  were  too  late; 
And  some  innative  weakness  there  must  be 
In  him  who  condescends  to  victory 
Such  as  the  Present  gives,  and  cannot  wait, 
Safe  in  himself  as  in  a  fate. 
So  always  firmly  he: 
He  knew  to  bide  his  time, 
And  can  his  fame  abide, 
Still  patient  in  his  simple  faith  sublime, 

Till  the  wise  years  decide. 
Great  captains,  with  their  guns  and  drums,' 
Disturb  our  judgment  for  the  hour, 
But  at  last  silence  comes! 
These  all  are  gone,  and  standing  like  a  tower, 
Our  children  shall  behold  his  fame, 
The  kindly-earnest,  brave,  foreseeing  man, 
Sagacious,  patient,  dreading  praise,  not  blame, 
New  birth  of  our  new  soil,  the  first  American. 

James  Russell  Lowell 


POETRY    OF    PATRIOTISM 

THE  FLAG  GOES    BY 

Hats  off! 

Along  the  street  there  comes 

A  blare  of  bugles,  a  ruffle  of  drums, 

A  flash  of  color  beneath  the  sky: 

Hats  off! 

The  flag  is  passing  by! 

Blue  and  crimson  and  white  it  shines, 

Over  the  steel-tipped,  ordered  lines, 

Hats  off! 

The  colors  before  us  fly; 

But  more  than  the  flag  is  passing  by. 

Sea  fights  and  land  fights,  grim  and  great, 
Fought  to  make  and  save  the  State: 
Weary  marches  and  sinking  ships; 
Cheers  of  victory  on  dying  lips; 

Days  of  plenty  and  years  of  peace; 
March  of  a  strong  land's  swift  increase; 
Equal  justice,  right,  and  law, 
Stately  honor  and  reverend  awe; 

Sign  of  a  nation,  great  and  strong 

To  ward  her  people  from  foreign  wrong: 

Pride  and  glory  and  honor— all 

Live  in  the  colors  to  stand  or  fall. 

Hats  off! 

Along  the  street  there  comes 


THE   SHIP    OF   STATE  285 

A  blare  of  bugles,  a  ruffle  of  drums; 
And  loyal  hearts  are  beating  high: 
Hats  off! 
The  flag  is  passing  by! 

Henry  Holcomb  Bennett 

THE  SHIP  OF  STATE 

Thou,  too,  sail  on,  O  Ship  of  State! 
Sail  on,  O  UNION,  strong  and  great ! 
Humanity  with  all  its  fears, 
With  all  the  hopes  of  future  years, 
Is  hanging  breathless  on  thy  fate! 
We  know  what  Master  laid  thy  keel, 
What  Workmen  wrought  thy  ribs  of  steel, 
Who  made  each  mast,  and  sail,  and  rope, 
What  anvils  rang,  what  hammers  beat, 
In  what  a  forge  and  what  a  heat 
Were  shaped  the  anchors  of  thy  hope! 
Fear  not  each  sudden  sound  and  shock, 
'Tis  of  the  wave  and  not  the  rock; 
'Tis  but  the  flapping  of  the  sail, 
And  not  a  rent  made  by  the  gale! 
In  spite  of  rock  and  tempest's  roar 
In  spite  of  false  lights  on  the  shore, 
Sail  on,  nor  fear  to  breast  the  sea! 
Our  hearts,  our  hopes,  are  all  with  thee, 
Our  hearts,  our  hopes,  our  prayers,  our  tears, 
Our  faith  triumphant  o'er  our  fears, 
Are  all  with  thee — are  all  with  thee! 

Henry  Wads  worth  Longfellow 


286  POETRY    OF    PATRIOTISM 

THE  NAME  OF  OLD  GLORY1 

Old  Glory!  say  who, 

By  the  ships  and  the  crew, 

And  the  long,  blended  ranks  of  the  grey  and  the  blue— 

Who  gave  you,  Old  Glory,  the  name  that  you  bear 

With  such  pride  everywhere 

As  you  cast  yourself  free  to  the  rapturous  air 

And  leap  out  full  length  as  we're  wanting  you  to? 

Who  gave  you  that  name,  with  the  ring  of  the  same, 

And  the  honor  and  fame  so  becoming  to  you?— 

Your  stripes  streaked  in  ripples  of  white  and  of  red, 

With  your  stars  at  their  glittering  best  overhead— 

By  day  or  by  night, 

Their  delightf  ulest  light 

Laughing  down  from  their  little  square  heaven  of  blue ! 

Who  gave  you  the  name  of  Old  Glory? — say  who— 

Who  gave  you  the  name  of  Old  Glory? 

The  old  banner  lifted,  and  faltering  then, 
In  vague  lisps  and  whispers  fell  silent  again. 

Old  Glory, — speak  out! — we  are  asking  about 
How  you  happened  to  "favor"  a  name,  so  to  say, 
That  sounds  so  familiar  and  careless  and  gay 
As  we  cheer  it  and  shout  in  our  wild,  breezy  way— 
We — the  crowd,  every  man  of  us,  calling  you  that— 
We — Tom,  Dick  and  Harry — each  swinging  his  hat— 

1  From  the  Biographical  Edition  of  the  Complete  Works  of  James 
Whitcomb  Riley.  Copyright  1913.  Used  by  special  permission  of  the 
publishers,  The  Bobbs-Merrill  Company. 


THE  NAME  OF  OLD  GLORY  287 

And  hurrahing  "Old  Glory,"  like  you  were  our  kind, 
When — Lord — we  all  know  we're  as  common  as  sin! 

And  yet  it  just  seems  like  you  humor  us  all 
And  waft  us  your  thanks  as  we  hail  you  and  fall 
Into  line,  with  you  over  us,  waving  us  on 
Where  our  glorified,  sanctified  betters  have  gone — 
And  this  is  the  reason  we're  wanting  to  know — 
(And  we're  wanting  it  so! 

Where  our  own  fathers  went,  we  are  willing  to  go) 
Who  gave  you  the  name  of  Old  Glory — Oho! 
Who  gave  you  the  name  of  Old  Glory? 

The  old  flag  unfurled  in  a  billowy  thrill 

For  an  instant,  then  wistfully  sighed  and  was  still. 

Old  Glory — the  story  we're  wanting  to  hear 

Is  what  the  plain  facts  of  your  christening  were — 

For  your  name — just  to  hear  it, 

Repeat  it,  and  cheer  it,  's  a  tang  to  the  spirit 

As  salt  as  a  tear; — 

And  seeing  you  fly,  and  the  boys  marching  by, 

There's  a  shout  in  the  throat  and  a  blur  in  the  eye 

And  an  aching  to  live  for  you  always — or  die, 

If,  dying,  we  still  keep  you  waving  on  high. 

And  so,  by  our  love 

For  you,  floating  above, 

And  the  scars  of  all  wars  and  the  sorrows  thereof, 

Who  gave  you  the  name  of  Old  Glory,  and  why 

Are  we  thrilled  at  the  name  of  Old  Glory? 


288  POETRY   OF   PATRIOTISM 

Then  the  old  banner  leaped,  like  a  sail  in  the  blast, 
And  fluttered  an  audible  answer  at  last. 

And  it  spake,  with  a  shake  of  the  voice,  and  it  said:- 
By  the  driven  snow-white  and  the  living  blood-red 
Of  my  bars,  and  their  heaven  of  stars  overhead— 
By  the  symbol  conjoined  of  them  all,  skyward  cast, 
As  I  float  from  the  steeple,  or  flap  at  the  mast, 
Or  droop  o'er  the  sod  where  the  long  grasses  nod, — 
My  name  is  as  old  as  the  glory  of  God, 
So  I  came  by  the  name  of  Old  Glory. 

James  Whitcomb  Riley 


«»»«»«*• 


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UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


